Tortured Souls
by Nature9000
Summary: With the lack of good parenting and avoidance leading to a mistake, and the birth of Charlie, two siblings must battle their own demons and self blame in order to rid themselves of impure emotions in this struggle to maintain a healthy sibling relationship. Can they manage, when their own parents refuse to discuss the important issues?
1. The Mistake

Tortured Minds

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N: This deals with a very heavy topic, I wasn't sure I wanted to do this either, but I'm going to. You know I can't resist a good story with lots of drama. It'll definitely be PJ/Skyler and Teddy/Spencer, but trust me with what I'm going to do here. PJ and Teddy will be the main perspective.

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Chapter 1 (The Mistake)

_May 23__rd__, 2009_

Bob Duncan sat at a bar, rubbing his forehead as the bartender swept a white cloth across the glossy surface. A shot of Jack Daniels sat before the bald man, it was his fifth and he was very tipsy, well close to drunk. He should have been at the hospital, but he had to stop along the way to the bar. Lately he'd turned to drinking to escape what he thought would be his death. He knew he needed to quit drinking, but he just couldn't. Even though it had made him delirious enough to give him such drunken hallucinations that his wife was pregnant and going into labor tonight. He had an entire memory all wrapped up and ready to go, one he actually believed.

He and Amy never believed in sex education, there were assemblies the school had each year, they kept their children away from those, but maybe they shouldn't have. He gripped the slender glass shot and brought it to his lips, leaning back as he downed it without a care in the world. "Hit me with another," he ordered. The bartender, a kind old soul with a thick grey moustache and a bald hat, simply stared at him. "I should be at the hospital, but I'm not going. No way I'm going." The bartender took the another shot glass and started filling it up as Bob hunched over his empty one.

"Why is that?" Where had they gone wrong? He'd been asking this question for nine months with Amy. They always avoided the subject, they avoided it all their lives. They said their children would find out one day, but not like this. Never like this. He shook his head and moaned as the man set the shot glass down beside him. "Should I call the hospital for you?"

"No. It's just…my 'wife' is in labor." He put air quotes around wife and slammed his hand against his face, weeping softly as the alcohol swept through his brain. The bartender's brow furrowed and he turned towards him with utter confusion and shock.

"If your wife is in labor, why are you here?"

"Because, don't you see? It's all a big _lie." _The problem was, he actually wanted to believe it was Amy. He wanted to believe _she_ was the one that was going in labor tonight. In his mind, he played the illusion so much that he actually did believed the tall tale. He believed that Teddy was at a play with Ivy, dressed as Frankenstein and freaking the children out. He believe Gabe was having a sugar high at home while he and PJ were pissing off motorcyclists in an attempt to try and reach Amy before it was too late. Instead, the reality was far different, and far, _far_ worse. It was enough to drive him to drink, out of sheer guilt.

_March 2011_

PJ twiddled his thumbs as he sat before Skyler, the woman he trusted with all his heart. His mind was filled with fearful thoughts and his heart agonized over her. He watched Charlie move across the floor and smiled for a second, then grimaced as pain sliced through him like a ten inch sword to the gut. Skyler reached for his shoulder and frowned. "PJ, what's bothering you? Talk to me, it's okay."

"You may hate me, Skyler." She would leave him, of that he was afraid. He looked up slowly and breathed in as images from the past started to fill his mind. Images he wanted to forget, feelings and emotions that he wanted to get rid of. He hated himself, he hated his parents, but he didn't need to. _It isn't their fault_ he told himself, but yet he blamed them. Why? Why didn't they talk about it? Why didn't they at least _push_ him? Gabe was old enough and he was dating Jo, he needed to go to the assembly. That was an absolute must, no other thing about it.

"I could never hate you. I'll support you no matter what, okay?" His lips curled and his heart beat for her. She was the reason for his happiness, she was the only person that could ever let him escape these dark, twisted feelings that he so wanted to trash. "Are you okay? Did someone hurt you? Did you do something?"

"It's more like I did something…" Charlie babbled happily as she started moving across the floor. She wasn't quite two yet, born on May 23th. Where was Bob that day? Drinking, just like he'd been doing through the whole thing. He wasn't drinking as much anymore, but he still refused to talk about 'the issue'. "Skyler. I uh, this isn't easy…"

"Okay PJ." Skyler moved closer to him and put her hand to his wrist, smiling gently. "I'm here. Just take a deep breath, and I'll be right here. Listening. I love you, you know that…there isn't a thing in this world that you can't tell me."

"Are you sure?" He had to tell Teddy to leave the house when Skyler was here today, he didn't want any distractions. Though, most of the time when Skyler was around, there were no distractions, there were no feelings, just _her._ The one woman he truly loved, feelings he thought, he hoped were real. "I…I _do_ love you, Skyler. Please, please no that, and there is nothing that could ever come between that. I would never cheat on you, I would never lie to you, and you're the only girl that I _know_ these feelings I have for you are…well…real."

Many things weren't real in this world. The imaginary friends Charlie sometimes talked to, the stories Gabe came up with, the lies that their parents feed their friends. The 'I'm proud' statements that came from Bob and Amy. No, those could never be real. For a time, he never thought love was real either. "PJ, take as much time as you need. Okay?" She smiled at him, warming his heart. Her soft hand squeezed upon his, throwing out all his worries and cares. "How I feel about you? That's real too. I promise. Love can overcome anything PJ, believe that."

"I'm not sure what I believe…" Why was this so hard? Every second he was about to tell her, but something would stab him like a knife and he couldn't. He watched Charlie once more, she was running off into the kitchen. He closed his eyes and ignored the pounding in his chest. "Skyler. Charlie is…really…my child." Skyler's eyes started to grow and she slowly shook her head.

"Okay." Her smile returned to him and his heart seemed to rise. So far so good. "Okay. So what happened, PJ?"

"It started as an experiment. I wanted…I wanted to know what it was like to, you know, have sex." Skyler pulled her lips back and slowly nodded. "So did the girl I experimented with. It was _one time_. However that one time created these…these _thoughts_. These _feelings_, and I hate them!"

"Do you still have these feelings for her? Is that it?"

"Well…" He felt his heart sinking down once more, this was the hard part, because he _did_ still have them. The problem was, he didn't _want_ them. He hated them, he thought he was some kind of monster for having them. So did the girl. He thought he was a demon. "Skyler, you're the only girl that's kept those feelings at bay, the only one that helped to push them away. I don't know how to escape them, they torture me every time I see her. Every time I think about her. I hate myself for them. I can't tell you how many times I've cried over them…"

"Are they unrequited? Was the sexual thing…was it consensual?"

"Yes. It was. You have to understand, Mom and Dad. They have this thing. They _never_ told us anything about sex. They never talk about it, they've avoided it all my life, so I never knew. We never knew." Skyler slowly nodded and leaned back, her hand was shaking as if she were trying to process everything he was saying. There was no turning back now, so he had to force it all out, and he was trying to be careful. "So we had to find it out ourselves. When we did, it was just an experiment, we didn't know about…the effects…Mom and Dad still don't talk about it. Dad got himself drunk on the night of Charlie's birth, and Mom was working the night of the labor, so she was forced to be involved…"

"PJ. You haven't told me…who's the mother?" He slowly bowed his head and felt his stomach churn and twist inside. He put his hand to his stomach, groaning as the intense pain started to shoot up his esophagus. Skyler quickly grabbed his hand and looked him straight in the eyes. "PJ." He whimpered softly, sweat dripping down the side of his face. "Who is the mother? I've got an idea…I hope, really hope I'm wrong, but…it's not going to change a thing. Okay?" She was shuddering, her eyes misty. "I promise you, I still love you. I'll help you through this, okay? I will. I'll help you get over it, just…I need to know-"

"Teddy." Skyler jerked back and put her hands to her mouth, closing her eyes and absorbing the answer. PJ instantly threw his head down and grasped his head, pulling at tufts of his hair and sobbing. "God Skyler…I hate myself for it…I never knew. If I had known, it would never have happened." Bob and Amy were the blame. They had to be the blame. If they weren't the blame for not educating them, then who? "If we'd been educated about it, instead of constantly hearing our classmates talk about how 'great' sex was, then maybe…I don't know! Then sometimes when I'm around her, I feel like…there's this connection that we both feel, and it's scary. _Very_ scary. It's like there's all this tension that just shouldn't be there between us! What's wrong with me Skyler? What's _wrong _with me!" He continued his frantic, pained sobs.

He felt her arms around him and slowly opened his eyes, glancing up as she put the side of her head to his back. Tears were running along her cheeks, but her lips were still curled into a smile. Her hug soothed him, calmed him. "Do you still have these urges, PJ?"

"Sometimes, but…when I'm with you they're gone. Like I said…"

"You're not a monster, there's nothing wrong with you. Sure sex creates a bond that's always kind of there, but those urges can go away eventually…"

"Am I a bad person?"

"No PJ. No you're not. You know those feelings are wrong. Does anyone else know?"

"Ivy…Ivy and Emmett have known…since she was pregnant. It created a lot of problems, but Ivy's her support. Emmett…kind of avoids it, ignores it, and comes around a little less."

"I'm sorry. I promise you I'll be here for you no matter what. I'll help you get over this somehow…"

_Present Day-November 2011_

Teddy's head shot up as PJ walked through the kitchen, she looked towards him and felt that nauseating feeling that comes after those desires that tormented her. Beside her was Ivy, who immediately grabbed her wrist and pulled her away before her thoughts started to get the better of her. "Teddy, let's get back to our talk, okay?" Ivy said with a gentle smile. God she loved Ivy, the girl was her godsend. "You said Gabe's school is fixing to host that sex education assembly, right?"

"Yes."

"You and PJ are going to take him to it?" They had to, they didn't want Gabe doing what they did with Jo. He had to know what sex was, even if Bob and Amy wanted to avoid that talk. She remembered when she first told Ivy what happened, the girl was silent for a long time and then finally she asked 'Didn't your mom ever give you _the talk_?' Of course, the answer was no. So far Ivy was the only one she trusted.

"Yes, but I don't want to go with him alone. Quite frankly, neither does he." PJ still talked to Skyler, but she moved to New York several months ago. He tried to escape by going to New York, but strangely, Bob went to bring him back. It was unfortunate, and those feelings and urges, the sexual tension, it all came back full blast after having been pushed down for so long. There was a moment when the two were alone, studying, their hands brushed and then their heads came so close together. Just thinking about it made Teddy want to hurl!

"Okay girl, you know I'll be there for you."

"Thank you…" Ivy hugged her close and Teddy let out a slow exhale. "There's something else I wanted to talk to you about…Spencer. I think I should tell him." When she was with him, it was similar to how Skyler was for PJ, those urges went away, even if it was only temporary. "What do you think?"

Ivy put her hands on the table and slowly leaned back, taking a sharp inhale. "Oh girl, you want to tell that flake that you and your brother…you know? Are you out of your _mind_?"

"If I don't tell someone else, I may _lose_ my mind! You're not around _all_ the time, and I feel like I need someone else there to comfort me, to make me feel better. Mom never wants to talk about this, and Dad, forget about it. He's _still_ out of it." The guy drank on occasion, not as much as he used to, but he had managed to quit. "I want to tell the man I love the truth."

"I don't think it's a good idea, but he is your boyfriend. Granted, a boyfriend that cheated on you once and could very likely do it again." She knew the danger, but maybe it was the best way to escape. What if they had sex, and maybe the desires she had for PJ would go away?

"Do you think if I had sex with someone else…"

"Don't start that Teddy, you do _not_ want to run that risk."

"I know, but…" She bowed her head and brushed her hair behind her ear. Her chest had a dull ache from her pounding heart, and her throat burned from the acid that her stomach was rejecting. She was having those thoughts about PJ again. "Ivy. I need _help_."

"I keep saying you need a therapist. Both of you do. My mom knows a therapist who could talk about this kind of stuff."

"But incest is _illegal_."

"It's okay. You're not engaging in it _now_ Teddy, nor do you want to." Ivy paused as Teddy lifted an eyebrow. Her friend quickly shook her head and lifted her hands. "Okay, you don't _really _want to. There's a difference between urges and wants. You have the knowledge and power to not act on those urges, and both of you have been doing good for about three years now! I think it's high time, though, that you seek counseling. Separate, and then together when you're ready."

"T-Together? As in, in the same room? But…"

"Oh come on, you've shared a _house_ for three years, well, sixteen years now. I'm sure you can share a therapy session…you know the therapists will want to do that anyway. It's a step in the healing process!" Healing? How was it healing?

"How?" She snapped, almost biting Ivy's head off from the irritation inside. "How is it healing?"

"Because Teddy…if you're in a controlled environment, you two can learn to get used to each other again on a _normal_ and _healthy_ sibling relationship without these urges torturing your brains out. Do you understand?"

"I do, but…" She grabbed her arms and focused on the terrible pounding within her chest. She was scared, frightened of therapy. She didn't want to be told she was crazy, she didn't want to be told she was a Monster. "I don't know…"

"It's always an option Teddy." Ivy put her hand to her shoulder and smiled at her. She lifted her eyes towards her friend's and smiled back. "You don't have to do it, I'm not going to force you, but whenever you're ready…you know I'll be there. I can't say the same for Spencer because I don't know how he'll react if you do tell him. Just…you need to be emotionally and mentally prepared. Okay?"

"I…I know…" As hard of a subject as it was to talk about, maybe telling Spencer right now _wasn't_ a good thing. She was just sick of the resentment, as well as the hate each other felt towards whoever the other was dating. Sick of the nausea, sick of the lies, and sick of feeling like she wanted to throw herself off a bridge every time her brother entered the room. "Why couldn't mom and dad just warned us about this stuff…why leave us to our own…"

"Teddy you two were as much responsible for doing the deed as they were for not telling you anything about it."

"But when we saw those schoolkids talking about it, we asked mom and dad. They were like 'we don't know' and 'find out yourself', it's their fault!" There was the familiar anger flaring up that she needed to push down. It just wasn't fair, just like the fact that her mother was pregnant for real this year. "It's not _fair_. I should have known better…" She moved her hands to her face, letting her tears come out. "I can't even tell my own brother that I love him without feeling like…like…a monster."

"You're not, Teddy. You're human, and humans make mistakes." Was Charlie a mistake though? She truly loved her, that's why she made the video diaries. She loved Charlie with all her heart, the girl was her true daughter and she would always be hers, even if she thought her parents were someone else. Teddy had to realize, she could never, ever, tell Charlie the truth. At least, that was her fear.

"God help me…it hurts so bad…"

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So you see the tragic part, the part that they must work through. The urges are there, but there won't be any actual incestual romance crap happening, that has obviously happened at this time, but the point is PJ and Teddy are trying to work to retain a healthy brother/sister relationship and get rid of these impulses. The big issue is trying to talk to the people they should be able to talk to about it, their parents, so that's another issue to work through. Then there's Gabe, who needs to see that the type of behavior isn't normal or right. So, it's going to be an emotional roller coaster ride, I'm sure. Plenty of drama, I hope you'll follow and enjoy it, because it will get good ^_^.


	2. Her Light

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

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Chapter 2 (Her Light)

Teddy wrote down familiar words in her diary as she sat upon her soft bed, with only the amber glow of the lamp beside her to light up the room. She was wearing her long, yellow silk nightgown, and had a small stuffed dog beside her. _"It's another sleepless night…_"Her pen scratched lightly over the crisp pink pages, crinkled by teardrops that had soaked through from prior nights. _"I feel like my writing is only getting more and more repetitive, but right now Diary, you're all I've got left to fall back on." _

It was a school night even, the very next day was supposed to be that assembly she was going to try taking Gabe to. However, two in the morning, and here she was with a heavy heart and sunken eyes. _"I started thinking about him again, Diary. I can't seem to control it, what's wrong with me? I'm starting to hate myself more each day! If it wasn't for Charlie, I don't know if I'd have any reason to…" _She hesitated, choking up a sob as her mind entertained thoughts of death. How hard would it be to walk up to a freeway and throw herself into oncoming traffic? Surely no one would mind. It would end these dark thoughts of hers. _"No, it wouldn't be right, but neither are these feelings I have. I just want to look at him as my brother. Why is that so hard? It's mom's fault, I think. Something about how she grew up, with Grandma Petunia believing sex was the devil and everything led to sex…so Mom grew up with that kind of belief, and apparently thinks anything to do with it, even talking about it, is bad before marriage…well look where it's led me! I'm sixteen and I have a daughter with my own _brother_, now I have these thoughts and urges that are impure that I hate, all because I never _knew_ what sex was. It's all her fault!"_

Of course, it was easy to blame someone else, and she saw nothing wrong with doing so. Rather, she faulted her mom for everything that went wrong in her life these days. To an extent, she blamed herself. Had they known how bonding the emotions generated from sex were, had they known the consequences and the risk of pregnancy, they would never have done it at all. She understood more now, but from Ivy who explained it, sex was meant for two unrelated people who truly loved each other. It created a connection, a bond, one that is felt as long as you're with that person. By having sex with PJ, that bond was formed, and it was disgusting.

She'd done her research on incest as well, and from what she understood, the children stood a bit of a greater chance of inheriting genetic defects because of said defect possibly being carried by both siblings. For instance, if the mark for a condition like asthma ran in the family, it would mean both brother and sister carried the trait. Rather than, say PJ or Skyler, having a child only stood half a chance of gaining that trait, Charlie would stand a much greater chance of receiving it. Fortunately asthma didn't appear to be an issue. Charlie did seem to have heart issues at birth, and needed an operation at only a few months for some vascular ring around her heart. The doctors said the girl wouldn't live past the age of two, yet here she was.

With Charlie in her thoughts, she set her journal down and started to leave the room. The baby slept in a nursery on the upper level of the house. It _used_ to be Gabe's room, and he did not take kindly to losing his room to the baby of his brother and sister. The kid was just as affected by this as everyone else in the family, and probably just as confused as well.

When she entered Charlie's room, the young girl was sleeping soundly in her crib. Teddy stood beside the maple wood carved crib and smiled down at the child. She never wanted to say Charlie was a mistake, Teddy didn't want to be the type of mother that hated her child because of something that should never have happened. Charlie wouldn't deserve to be disliked because of her parents' sin. If anything, it meant she should be loved even more. She didn't want Charlie to think of herself as bad, she wasn't the bad one here, she was sweet and innocent.

With a tear in her eye, Teddy leaned over and tenderly kissed Charlie's forehead. "Mama loves you," she whispered, careful not to wake the young child. It was a plus that neither she nor PJ looked at Charlie with shame or distaste, the toddler wouldn't deserve that in any way. This baby was the reason she didn't take her life, the reason she fought against those urges she had for her own brother and fought against the dark shroud of death that so bitterly shadowed her. It wasn't Spencer, it wasn't Ivy, Charlie was her light.

When she rose up and turned, she spotted PJ standing in the doorway. He was leaning up against the frame and had his arms crossed over, his hair fell neatly above his eyebrows and deep eyes. Teddy's first thought was the attraction, to which a nauseating feeling followed. PJ gazed at her with sad eyes and thinly pressed lips. What could he be thinking? "You came to visit Charlie too?" He asked while pushing from the frame. "Couldn't sleep?"

"No, of course not. Did I wake you?"

"No, I was having some trouble myself. Couldn't call Skyler and thought I'd come watch Charlie sleep for a little bit." He walked past her and bent over the crib, reaching in to brush some of the child's hair from her face. "She's such a peaceful sleeper…" Teddy turned her gaze towards the girl and began to smile.

"She's my light, if you can understand that sort of thing. I just wish…I don't know. How could I ever tell her how she was conceived?" Watching him, she was beginning to wonder about how much of a father he would make, but she didn't want _that_ from him. Her tone cracked a bit as she made her way towards the crib, she wanted to be sure to stay a good distance away from PJ. It was the only way she could think to not act on whatever these impure feelings wanted her to do. "She's an angel. Hard to believe something so pure can come from something so…"

"So wrong." He withdrew his arm and looked to Teddy with a vague smile. "Yeah, I was just thinking that." He frowned and turned his gaze to the moonlit window. "Everything's so messed up. Skyler's in New York, mom and dad refuse to talk about anything now, Emmett's still coming around _less_, and I'm just glad I don't have to deal with strange looks at school."

"What's going to happen…with us? I mean, you're my brother. The line is just really blurry, it gives me a headache." Would things _ever_ be okay between them? She wanted things to be okay, she really did, but she was so confused that she didn't know what to think or believe. She watched him frown and shrug his shoulders, only leaving her with a sense of hopelessness that threatened to devour her. "Don't you care?"

"I do, I'm just as confused about everything as you are. I mean you're my_ sister_, I shouldn't be attracted to you but I am. Having…doing what we did…it only opened the door to this _thing_. I mean what am I supposed to say? I don't want to say it was a mistake, because clearly Charlie isn't a mistake. I can't safely say platonically that you're an attractive person without feeling some sort of attraction, but if I say you're not, then obviously you're going to feel bad. I'm in just as bad a shape as you, and I _hate_ it just as much!"

"I know…" Her shoulders fell and her eyes dropped. She wanted to say she loved him in a platonic way as well, and yes, he _was_ attractive, but he shouldn't be attractive in a sexual way to her. "I hate what we did. I don't hate you and I don't hate Charlie. I love her, as much as I could ever love her."

"So do I." They looked to the crib as Charlie rolled onto her side, still sleeping as an angel sleeps. PJ's voice wavered and his hands began to close. "I worry about her future. All the time. Even if we kept up with Dad's fairytale, even if we kept pretending, she would find out later in life…and would she hate us? Not only that, but if we _didn't_ pretend, who would parent her? That would have to be confusing for her." He had a point, either way she couldn't see a good thing coming out of either outcome. Telling Charlie or keeping it a secret, it would still end the same one day. "There's no way in hell we could raise her together, that's out of the question."

"Yeah…" She swallowed the bile burning her throat and held her watery gaze on her daughter. A part of her wanted to think they could do it together, but that was unacceptable, and she knew it. She closed her eyes and whispered to herself. "Brother. Just my brother…"

"The assembly is tomorrow, right?" She opened her eyes to see PJ covering Charlie up with her blanket. He rose up and turned to her. "We're definitely making Gabe go…though mom and dad don't want him going…He was asking me about sex earlier. Teddy, I think he thinks what we did was normal."

"You did tell him it's _not_ normal, right?"

"Yeah, and then he and Jo want to find out what it's like to do it…"

"Well if he sees what's happened to us, then goes to the assembly, he'll know what sex is. If he still participates in the act…it's on him." As much as she didn't want to say that, she knew they couldn't control Gabe. They could at the very least, educate him. "If he gets the education and doesn't use it, at least he has an excuse. He doesn't have to sit there and tell someone 'my mother never gave me the talk'." Her tone grew snippy and full of resentment. "Whatever though, point being…he'll know what's wrong and what's right."

"Yeah…At the very least, hopefully he doesn't have to deal with anything bad." She knew Gabe was affected by everything that happened, but he was fortunate, no one knew anything about the incest and no one troubled him. Of course, Jo knew, but she didn't care. She didn't worry. "Anyway tomorrow we'll meet Ivy at the Junior High. She'll be there for us."

"Great." He took a deep breath and moved his hand to the edge of the crib, glancing once more at Charlie. "I'm going to try and get back to sleep…goodnight Teddy."

"Yeah, goodnight." She moved towards him and stopped after a few steps, she wanted to give him a hug. Only, she didn't feel it would be right of her to do so. She bowed her head and waited as he left the room. With a heavy sigh, she turned towards Charlie, towards her light, and smiled. She reached into the crib and caressed the baby's soft cheek with her hand. Under her breath, she sang a soft lullaby. She watched as Charlie's eyelids crinkled and her nose wiggled, the baby's chest rose and fell very slowly and was followed by a very faint snore.

* * *

There's a cute little mother-daughter moment there. Anyway I wanted to respond to a reviewer that has their pm system disabled, so I guess I'll do it here. First, take a look at the photo up at the top that I've put together for this story, a close look. Looks like a shattered portrait, and it is of the Christmas thing, there is a reason for that. By the way, a quick note, I noticed a mixup in the last chapter with the present date. Present date is NOVEMBER 2011, the very end of November.

Now onto my reviewer, "Speak now". (Anyone else feel free to stop now and leave any comments you have on this chapter if you wish). I'm glad you like this, despite the fact that the incest thing already happened. Yes, I really hate incest stories myself, which is why this story is _not_ an incest romance one. Technically no romance has happened between the two, however as explained by a character in a later chapter, the sex creates a sort of "infatuation" that is impure and should not be there. That is what they struggle with, one of the many things that will tear the family apart. I am actually planning a time skip, but you'll have to see how everything is going. I'm glad you're liking the writing, and I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Indeed Skyler is strong not to freak out over the news, and her parents _are_ accepting of PJ (They have to be for what is about to happen to work). Do stick around, and thank you very much ^_^


	3. Educating Gabe

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 3 (Educating Gabe)

"I can't believe you're actually doing this," Gabe complained. He was walking in front of PJ, Teddy, and Ivy. Next to him was Jo, holding his hand. Teddy had her hands on his shoulders and was leading him towards the assembly. "You and PJ didn't have to go when you were my age." Teddy closed her eyes and PJ lightly smacked Gabe upside the head, causing him to throw his hands up to his head. "Ow! What was that for?" Jo shook her head at him.

"Leave them alone," she scolded. "They're your siblings, so you know better, right? Besides, this is for our own good I think…" Teddy liked this girl, she was smart. She looked appreciatively at Jo while the girl looked up to her with a subtle smile. "How's Charlie doing, anyway?"

"She's doing just fine, Jo." Of course Jo knew about what happened, but she'd been accepting of it. At first she was a bit freaked, but she got over it rather quickly. With her, she wasn't going to let it influence her relationship with Gabe, who hadn't done anything bad at all. He needed someone strong like her in his life, considering how this whole thing affected him too. He had to worry about becoming a laughingstock, and having two siblings have sex with one another didn't do his mental psyche any wonders. He still loved them as they loved him, let there be no mistake of that.

"Good. What about Mr. and Mrs. Duncan? I know you guys don't talk to them a lot…"

"There's not much to say about them." Of course, PJ hated Bob's guts now, more than ever. The man kept a bottle of vodka, and some whiskey bottles, all stashed away in various areas. Amy constantly turned her nose up at the family, which was just like her own mother did. "Mom's turning into Grandma Petunia, to be honest. As for Dad…his health sure isn't going to be getting any better."

PJ scoffed and folded his arms over, narrowing his eyes. "Let his health fail. He's just a pushover." Teddy rolled her eyes and glanced towards the auditorium in front of them. "He does everything mom says and can't even stand up for himself. He serves no purpose as a human being or a father."

"He's doing the best he can," Gabe commented. Gabe bowed his head and lifted his shoulders. "Mom's just kind of the boss of the house." Hell, before they left to bring Gabe here, they got into a massive argument with Amy over the whole thing. Of course, Teddy won out, but the frustrating memory was not doing her any favors.

_"You are not taking Gabe to that assembly!" Amy shouted as she stomped her foot on the ground. Teddy rolled her eyes and looked over to PJ for help, but he only shook his head. This wasn't his fight to get involved in. Teddy raised her voice up and threw a finger against Amy's chest._

_ "What is your problem? He needs to know!"_

_ "No he doesn't! He doesn't need to know about sex until he's married at least." Amy walked past her and turned to Bob, who was sitting lazily on the couch. Bob's eyes were dull and his face blank, as though he were tuning everything out. "Bob get off your lazy ass and help me out here. Explain to her why she cannot take Gabe to this assembly. I won't allow it!" _

_ "Oh my god, Mom…You didn't want me going, you didn't want PJ going, and look what happened! We turned to older kids who influenced us to experiment, and look how that turned out. If Gabe doesn't know-"_

_ "Then he won't have sex before the time is right!" Amy spun around, her hair swirling about her shoulders and face like fire. Teddy froze as the woman's eyes burned into her. "Anything that involves sex can influence someone into having sex before marriage, so I won't allow him to know. You guys only knew what it was because you asked some older punks who told you screwing each other was good!" _

_ Her mother's words rattled her and threw her into shock. Silence drifted into the air and Gabe's head poked around the corner, his eyes wide and frightened. Amy threw her hands up and stormed out of the room. Bob looked over and sighed. Bob moved up from the couch and started to follow her, stopping in front of Teddy and giving her an apologetic look. "It's not her fault really. It's her mother, she put that fear of god in her when she was young…The woman believed any knowledge of sex opens the door to it. I mean that's not the only problem, but…"_

_ "Bob! Get in here!"_

_ Bob closed his eyes and lifted his eyebrows up. His shoulders fell. "Coming honey." _

_ She was certain someone just stabbed her with a hot knife. Teddy put her hand to her aching chest and let the tears fall along her face. Once Bob left the room, she looked to the stairs to see Charlie bouncing down them. She smiled sadly and hurried over, scooping up the young child. Charlie looked up, meeting her eyes, and in an instant stopped the pained pounding of her heart. The cares of the world could fade away as long as this little girl was with her._

_ "You okay?" PJ asked as he and Gabe moved towards her. She looked up at them and lifted he shoulders. "So what's going to happen?"_

_ "We're still taking Gabe to that assembly. I don't care what mom has to say about it."_

_ "Sounds good to me."_

She wasn't going to be like her mother, she swore it. When Charlie grew up, she would know what sex was, and she would know the consequences. "I'm getting tired of pretending Charlie's that woman's child…to be honest…"

"Whether or not she knows is up to you," Ivy responded. "You may not want to tell Charlie, and she may not understand _now_, but it's better to tell children when they're younger than to wait until they're older. If they're young, they can grow up accustomed to the knowledge, if they're teenagers when they find out, they'll probably hate you." She shuddered at the statement, it was hard imagining Charlie ever hating her. She saw Ivy's point, though, but didn't know when or if the time would ever be right.

"Telling her that PJ and I are…I don't know…"

Jo glanced back over her shoulder, inputting her opinion on the matter. "At least tell her that you're her mother. She's at a young age, so now is probably the time she actually needs to know who her real mom is. The 'who's my dad' thing can come later, but not too late…you know?"

"Yeah, I guess." Jo had a point, there was no denying that, but it still scared her. She didn't want to cause Charlie any major mental problems, and early confusion would likely be a probable cause for mental problems.

"My dad's a psychologist, and he always says that communication from an early age helps in child development. Be honest with Charlie at a young age and continue to be honest, that way she'd understand. You know, answer questions and whatnot, don't hold back on the truth. You really can't afford to do that."

"Not in a situation like this," Ivy agreed. "If she grows up understanding what incest is, and understanding that you're her mother, she stands a better chance of being stable when she's older." Teddy bowed her head in thought, questioning and considering the words. She wasn't completely sure how she felt about it, but she did have to admit, they were making a world of sense to her.

"Maybe."

When they entered the auditorium, they moved to the center rows and sat about three rows from the stage. She was indeed nervous, but at the same time, she already knew what they might say. On the stage was a woman in business casual, her brown hair fell in curls onto her padded shoulders and framed her chestnut brown eyes. "Good morning, my name is Eileen. I'm here to talk to you about _sex_." Teddy leaned back and glanced over to Gabe and Jo, who were watching earnestly. Ah yes, this was what she was missing her own classes for, but it was important enough. "Now I imagine children your age, you love movies and films, correct? We will be watching a film towards the end called 'The Miracle of Life'."

She snapped her head towards the woman and raised an eyebrow, she never heard of this film before. Was it yet _another_ thing kept from her by her mother? She glanced over to PJ, he was to her right, with Gabe and Jo in between the two of them. Ivy was on her left. For the moment, she wanted so desperately to sit next to him, but quickly chastised herself and looked away.

"I've actually seen this a year ago," PJ muttered. "Skyler took me onto Youtube and showed me this 'film'."

"Any spoilers?" Gabe asked, he had a sense of urgency in his voice. PJ smirked at him and leaned his head back.

"No spoilers, but let's just see if this sex education will really make you _want_ to have sex."

"Oh god. I'm going to have nightmares, aren't I?"

"Maybe." PJ chuckled evilly causing Teddy to roll her eyes at him. "Anyway, Emmett was going to join us, but before he got a chance, one of the teachers pulled him away for something."

Teddy nodded and folded her hands into her lap. "Well at least he was making an effort." She had to admit, Emmett was _still_ a good friend to them. Mostly, to PJ, but he definitely wasn't crushing on her anymore. "It's a good thing."

"Yeah I don't know what I'd do if he turned on me. Skyler's all I got left just about. If I didn't have her to fall back on, who knows where I'd be…anyway, let's focus on the speaker." They agreed and returned their attention to Eileen, who was still talking.

"Now I'm sure you all expect a boring lecture, so we're going to try and make this a little more fun," Eileen said with a smile. "I'm not here to try and fill you with horror stories about how bad sex is, or how wrong it is, I'm only here to tell you that while it can be fun and _very_ enjoyable, with the right person…" Eileen chuckled softly and lifted up a hand. "Married for ten years, and it gets better every night. However, one must be responsible when it comes to sex, you can't just go out at random and have sex with whomever, whenever, because then there's this little line called a 'bond' that gets smeared so badly that the meaning and impact that sex is supposed to have on your life will be gone completely. It is meant to be between two people who love each other tremendously and want to share their lives with each other. When it's with the right person, the impact felt will only increase…"

As time went on, the woman indeed cracked jokes that got the audience laughing at times, and even became so serious that a single hairpin could create a shockwave of sound. Teddy practically slept through it all, considering she'd heard and knew already about this bond, she'd had enough talks with Ivy to know what sex was and what it was supposed to be, but that line had already been smeared for her. It didn't have to be for Gabe, or even Charlie. When she was older, of course.

As they were leaving the auditorium after having seen the film, Gabe had a bit of an erratic step. His eyes were wide and he was making occasional gagging noises. "Question time," he started. PJ laughed lightly and Teddy glanced over with concern. "Mom and Grandma think knowledge of sex influences it to happen…_how_ is _that_ supposed to make me _want_ to have sex? It makes me want to avoid it like the freaking plague!"

Jo took his hand and leaned over, kissing his cheek. "That's good. I mean, the point was to understand that sex is supposed to be a special thing, and I'm willing to wait for the right person and the right time. As for the film, yeah that was kind of scary, but…I guess they have to show it."

"Now if only we had that opportunity," PJ remarked. His lips turned to a sneer and his eyes narrowed. "Mom and Dad won't be happy if they find out we brought Gabe here." Teddy groaned and threw her hand up, brandishing it.

"Like I care. I think we did the right thing, and if Mom doesn't like it, she can stuff it. Frankly, I don't want to hear about them anymore today. I have a headache, I need to head back to school, and then when I get home, I'm going straight to bed."

* * *

Well what do you think?**  
**


	4. What is Real?

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 4 (What is Real)

PJ reached beneath his bed, groaning loudly as he felt a glass bottle rolled up against the wall. Emmett stood behind him, arms crossed. When PJ pulled the bottle out, he shuddered in disgust. "Dude, have you started drinking?" Emmett asked with arched brows. PJ chucked the empty bottle into the waste bin and pat his hands together, he never drank once in his life and he wasn't about to. "I mean I know things get bad for you, but dude, don't turn to-"

"It's not mine, it's the fuck-up of a father that I have." He couldn't help that his dad liked to drink in his room when he wasn't there, but it didn't help matters in any way. "He's always coming in here whenever I'm out of the house, getting drunk or doing whatever it is he does when Mom's not looking. It's getting old!" He just wanted to work on some music, or at the very least, hang with his friend for a while and _not_ think about his parents.

"I can imagine. You need to relax before you blow a gasket. You ever notice when you get really angry about them, you have this little vein in your neck that starts popping out?" PJ chuckled and started past him. He only went into his room to check and see if his father had been drinking anything while they were at the assembly. Emmett followed after him and they quickly made their way towards the basement. "So how did the assembly go? Does it make Gabe want to have sex with Jo?" Emmett smirked and PJ slowly breathed out, trying not to grow annoyed with his friend's joking demeanor.

"No. At the very least, he understands it and probably won't do anything until he's older." Once in the basement, they heard the shower going. He froze and instantly imagined Teddy showering. She had a bathroom connected to her basement bedroom. He groaned and put his fingers to his eyes, trying to mentally shake away the thought of his sister in the nude. In truth, that was where _it_ happened, the incident. They wanted to be 'clean' before they did the 'experiment'. Nowadays he couldn't stand to be anywhere near the basement when that shower was going. Hell, he'd not even been in Teddy's bedroom since that day. "Damn it, we can't do anything with the music."

"Why not?"

"Do you _not_ hear the shower?" Emmett stopped and looked at him as though he were crazy.

"No…dude, the shower isn't on." Was he imagining it? He thought he heard the shower, but it had been so brief, maybe now he was just hearing the water from the memory. A wave of disgust filled him and he quickly turned away, putting his hand to his stomach as it fought against him. "PJ? You okay man?"

"Flashback…I am not enjoying it." But at the same time, he was, and it terrified him. He felt a sensation below and quickly grabbed for his phone. He needed to escape, and fast. "I swear to god I hate this fucking house!" Emmett put his hands to his shoulders, shaking him and trying to get him to snap back into reality.

"Man relax!" With that, he felt a sting to his right cheek. His eyes dilated for a brief moment and he quickly snapped his gaze to Emmett. His friend had just smacked him hard across the face. Emmett shrugged apologetically and met his eyes. "Sorry, I had to do it." The room grew silent and the image was gone. Sometimes he would imagine Teddy running the shampoo in her hair, or washing her body down, and it disgusted him. He usually wound up calling Skyler or Emmett to try and distract himself from these thoughts, and it usually worked.

"Yeah…thanks…It got worse when Skyler moved away."

"I know man, I know. Just keep in mind that Teddy's your sister, and it needs to stay that way." He chuckled nervously and waited as Emmett moved towards the drum set in the corner. "By the way, not to sound perverted or anything, but have you ever seen Skyler naked?" PJ raised an eyebrow and started towards the instruments.

"No…" What did this have to do with anything? Besides, the closest he'd ever gotten to seeing her was at the pool. "I hope, for your sake, you're not thinking of my girlfriend like that."

"Dear god no!" Emmett sat behind the drums and picked up the drumsticks. "Not saying she isn't attractive or anything like that, it's just, she's your girl man. I'm more attracted to Ivy. I'm just trying to get you to think about it for a moment, have you ever wondered what she looks like naked?"

"Well…" In honesty, he never gave it much thought. "I've seen her in a bikini before." He grabbed the guitar next to the drums as Emmett played off a single beat and laughed. "What?"

"Elaborate. I mean, don't go into any details you don't want to, but elaborate a little. You've seen her in a bikini, how did it affect you? Were you turned on at least?"

"Yeah…"

"There's hope yet!"

"I suppose so." He had to admit, Skyler was very attractive, even more so in her bikini. They'd gone to the pool during the summer and she was wearing a two piece black bikini with a burning flame sewn into the pieces. The top part of her bikini had thin stringy shoulder straps and cups that held the bottom of her C-sized breasts. The bottom portion of her bikini had been rather small, but not small enough to be compared with a thong, but it didn't cover her entire lower body.

As he thought on the memory of being at the pool with her, he imagined her holding the pool ball above her head and laughing as her beautiful, silky brown hair flowed out with the water that surrounded her. He imagined her arms around his neck and her head on his shoulder while they floated together in the pool. She had been the most beautiful person there, outshining everyone that had been there.

Next began the fantasy of seeing her undress, and imagining her pressed up against him in an embrace. This fantasy was only broken by the loud crash of a cymbal in his ear. He jerked back and shot a look at Emmett, who was grinning mischievously. "What the hell Emmett! Are you _trying_ to make me deaf?" He rubbed his ear while his friend only laughed.

"Well you went into some kind of la-la land, I had to do _something_ to pull you from your trance. Let me guess, you were thinking about Skyler?"

"Yes." It was the most peace his mind had in the last few days, and he appreciated it. "You killed the dream man, you killed the dream."

"Whatever bro." Emmett leaned over the drum and pointed the stick at PJ. "I'm saying _that's_ normal, that is what you should be thinking about right there. Now I'm not saying it's something you need to do constantly, fantasizing about your naked girlfriend, but I'm also not saying that there's anything wrong with it. It's completely normal human behavior, it's legit…if you can make a breakthrough like that, PJ, you can get through all those crap you keep torturing yourself with." He hummed and let his mind slowly slip back to Skyler at the pool, now imagining her sunbathing on one of those reclined pool chairs. "Now Skyler. You love her, right?"

"I believe so. I mean 'love' kind of gets blurred for me. I mean I love Skyler more than anything, but I love my sister too…_platonically_. I think. I hope." His heart sank as Emmett stared at him, possibly deep in thought.

"Okay." Emmett set the sticks down and stood up, moving over to PJ. "Love. It is a complex thing, I know, and it comes in many, _many_ forms. There's the love you feel for your parents, love someone feels towards their siblings, cousins, relatives. There's the love people feel for the random stranger they see on the street-" Stranger on the street? How could anyone _love_ someone like that?

"Huh?" Emmett brandished his hand and cleared his throat.

"Hear me out. There's the love you have towards your friends, and then, there's the strong one. True love that you feel for your children, for your spouse, your significant other. I myself, I can't explain love to you right off the top of my head because it _is_ so complex, but you're probably not going to get any explanation of it from your parents, so…"

"Yeah they're pretty shitty."

"Exactly. It would be moot to try and talk to them. What I _think_ happened with you and Teddy…there are different levels, layers, to this love thing…what you two _think_ is love is infatuation brought on by the one sex act that you had. Infatuation, as you should know, is just the attraction, it's the type of fake love that tricks so many people. Infatuation is created, I believe, by sex with the wrong person…You're not 'in love' with your sibling, you're infatuated, and you need to rid yourself of that crap."

"Yeah, I already have the 'it's filthy and wrong' part down."

"Right. The real love, the pure love between you and Skyler…the fact that she's able to still care about you unconditionally the way she does, the fact that you two can be apart with miles in between you and trust each other well enough…_that_ is love. That's the true love that is _right_."

"Okay…and whenever I want to knock Spencer's block off because he cheated on Teddy? For example. Clarify some of those feelings…"

"Sibling. Concern for…see, the infatuation between you and Teddy has grown to the point where you can't see what is really just a normal sibling reaction…When Spencer became the ass, sure everyone wanted to knock him off his feet. Even Gabe, if you remember the talk we had with him back then…"

"Gabe wanted to push him in front of an oncoming vehicle…yes…"

"Because he _cared_ about his sister's feelings. Just like you. You're not heartless and you most certainly _care_ about Teddy in the sibling way. You just need to not be afraid of that, and learn how to get rid of the infatuated thoughts."

"Not exactly an easy task there."

"Of course not, and it's not going to be easy without some sort of clarification. Now back to what I was saying before, love doesn't mean you want to sleep with someone. It doesn't mean you fantasize about them. That's the infatuation, and fantasizing is normal on occasion. Love just means you _care_, but like I said, there are levels. You would care more for your wife than you would for your brother, but more for your brother than you would a stranger on the street. As it says in the bible 'love one another', you know this references compassion. Be compassionate, don't look down on others, and so forth. So that stranger on the street, you smile and say 'hi' if they say hello, if a conversation sparks, you converse for a brief moment. That's compassion, love for your fellow man. Love for a relative is the same way, only deeper still. You care about them, don't want to see them hurting, but of course you're not going to sleep with them. Then there's love for your girlfriend, your wife, which is on a much _deeper_ scale than that. There's the actual spiritual, physical, and emotional bond that you share with that person, and that person only. Understand?"

"I think so…" It sounded confusing, but Emmett did make it pretty clear where everyone stood in terms of the emotion. He rubbed his chin and watched his friend return to the drums, it was a curious thing how he was knowledgeable about this stuff. "So how do you know all this?"

"Eh." Emmett grabbed up the drumsticks and stared at the tips for a second. "My old man's a preacher and mom sings in the choir. Dad wants me to be a preacher too, so he throws a whole bunch of stuff my way. I don't really want to be one, but it's the family legacy, you know."

"Well, I bet you'd be good at it…" Emmett laughed and started to tap the drums. PJ shook his head and quickly started to strum on his guitar. The song they were working on was actually a song for Skyler, and the feelings it produced were very well the most real feelings that he'd felt for anyone. So maybe it was love, maybe it was genuine, whereas the unclean infatuation for his sister was thankfully _not_ the real deal. If he just focused on Skyler, focused on the one he truly loved, that infatuation could subside. Perhaps that was what Emmett was trying to get him to realize, to think about, and maybe, it would work.

* * *

Emmet is definitely a good friend, can see why he'd have to be careful though with parents that might frown upon him being PJ's friend. Anyway, good advice from him, what did you think of the chapter?


	5. Laying Blame

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 5 (Laying Blame)

"I cannot _believe_ you undermined me!" Amy screamed at the top of her lungs, shaking Teddy from the inside out. Amy slammed her hand onto the kitchen counter and quickly rushed forward, pointing an accusing finger at her. "I explicitly said _no!_ I do not need any more of my children knowing about something that could potentially ruin their lives." Teddy rolled her eyes as Amy turned back to the counter where she was using a meat tenderizer on what was once tough meet, now overly smashed down.

"Knowing about sex isn't going to ruin his life, mother. If anything, it'll make him aware of what's out there! You're the one sheltering him from everything!" Amy scoffed and grabbed the tenderizer, continuing to slam the meat with it once more. "Are you seriously _still_ tenderizing it?"

"Sure, and you'll eat jerky if you have to." Amy spun back around and bounced the tenderizer in Teddy's face, narrowing her eyes. "You're going to say I'm wrong? Well what did you do when you found out what sex was? You decided to go and experiment to see how it felt, and _look_ what happened!" Teddy opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her eyes stung with tears and her hands started to curl.

"It's your own damn fault! Maybe if you had told us what it was, what the meaning of it was, then just _maybe _we would have known better! Maybe it wouldn't have happened! So if you want to blame anyone for it, blame yourself." She leaned in towards her mother, full of rage and anger. She could not stand this woman, and was coming so close to bringing that tenderizer down onto her. "All you care about is yourself, that's it. You refuse to talk about anything if it doesn't suit you, and its causing everyone grief! Dad's out drinking his life away and you're blind as a bat! What do you expect to gain? 'Mother of the year'? I hope I'm a better mother than you could ever hope to be!" Amy gasped and threw her tenderizer down onto the counter.

"Rebecca Teddy Duncan, you will not take that tone with me!" She paused and continued glaring at her mother. There was no way for her to calm down, not with Amy standing right there.

"I just _did." _She turned away and stormed from the kitchen. She was exhausted and felt nothing was getting better. Charlie was on the couch with her toys, but only staring with sorrowful eyes. Almost instantly, the argument with her mom was washed away and replaced with motherly concern of hre own. "Charlie? What's the matter?"

Charlie looked up to her with a tearful gaze. What happened to the girl? Why was she crying? She sat beside her daughter and let her curl up on her lap. "Mama doesn't love me? Am I bad?" Her heart sank and she quickly shook her head.

"No, mom loves you. She does. You're not bad, not at all. Why would you ever think that?" There were things she'd started wondering about lately, things that had been brought up by Ivy. For instance, a baby begins recognizing faces and voices from the moment they leave the room, and that memory is held onto for the longest time. Ivy mentioned how Teddy had done everything with Charlie, always been the one acting like the mother, so was it probable that Charlie thought _she_ was her mother? "Mama always will love you, no matter what."

"Grandma said I was a 'mistake'. That means bad." Teddy froze and stared at Charlie for a second. Confusion and anger were beginning to flood her veins as she slowly looked towards the kitchen.

"What?"

"She said you were my mommy, she was my Gran-Gran, and she said I was mistake…" She closed her mouth and flared her nostrils, she would deal with Amy later.

"No baby, you're not a mistake." She hugged Charlie close and let the girl cuddle against her chest. "Your grandmother's wrong. I am your mother and I love you very much, I will _always_ love you. Yes I did something bad, but that doesn't change how I feel about you. You're my precious angel, my light, and I will always love you. You're not bad, you're not capable of being bad."

"You love me?"

"Always." She cuddled Charlie even closer and put her chin to the girl's soft hair. A tear fell along her cheek. When she heard footsteps behind her, she turned her head and sighed with relief at seeing PJ. He looked concerned. "Mom decided to go off the deep end. She told Charlie that she was a 'mistake'." She sneered and he rolled his eyes. "I'm seriously getting tired of that woman, PJ. I don't know how much longer I can take it!"

"Just relax Teddy."

"No. If it isn't one thing with her, it's another!" She felt Charlie squeeze her and looked down at her. Realizing she was probably scaring the young child, she toned herself down and breathed out a sigh. This was not the best environment for Charlie, and there was nothing to do about it. "I'm sorry baby," she whispered. "I don't mean to yell. I'm not upset with you."

"Promise?" Charlie slowly looked up, scrunching her face. Teddy smiled tenderly and lifted her hand, brushing her child's hair back. Charlie closed her eyes to her mother's soothing touch and started to yawn.

"I promise sweetie. You're tired?"

"Tired, mommy…"

"Go take her to bed," PJ stated. He pushed his hands into his pockets and looked off to the kitchen. "I'll go talk to our mother…"

PJ moved into the kitchen, glancing back to see Teddy carrying Charlie off. His chest expanded as he stepped into the room. Amy was now rolling some dough, probably making French bread. It was common for her to bake bread for dinner. "Mom. Did you seriously tell Charlie she was a 'mistake'?" Amy stopped and looked over at him with a frown.

"Well the girl asked if Teddy was her mother, so I said she was and that she was born because of a mistake." He chuckled disbelievingly and scraped his fingers along the kitchen table. He couldn't even look her in the eyes, already his blood was boiling.

"So you told her she was _bad_. I just want to know if you're seriously that insane." He was trying not to raise his voice too much, but it was becoming increasingly harder to do so. "Do you _not_ realize how stressful this is for everyone? The last thing you should be doing is traumatizing Charlie! I would have hoped you had more sense in you than Dad does, but apparently I'm wrong about that!" He didn't know how much longer he could take this family either. He didn't know what he'd do if it all blew to hell. He had an idea, and Skyler's parents _did_ say if he ever wanted to come back to New York, they would help him get on his feet. He had to admit, their family was one of the most accepting families he'd met. "I'd like to think you'd actually treat Charlie well. She never did anything wrong. It was me, it was Teddy, don't take it out on Charlie. Got that?"

"I was never taking it out on her. I was merely being honest."

"Oh yeah? Well let's see how long your 'honesty' keeps this family together." He was done with her, she wasn't going to come around to anyone's point of view but her own. She started to say something, but he ignored her and walked off. Emmett was still in the basement with the drums. PJ had come up to get himself a drink, but now it just wasn't worth it.

When he made his way to the basement, Emmett looked up with a vague smile. "I guess you decided against the soda? What happened up there?"

"I do _not_ want to talk about it."

"Fair enough."

Emmett left about thirty minutes later and PJ remained in the basement with Skyler on the phone. She had the speakerphone on and was with her parents, David and Amanda. PJ's free hand was covering his face as he leaned back on the couch. "I'm telling you, I don't know how much longer I can stand this. I'm eighteen now, I want to leave this goddamn place, but I can't. Obviously Kwikki Chikki isn't going to pay enough of a living."

"We've said it many times before," David reminded, "We're more than willing to help you. If you're serious about needing a place. Would you bring your daughter with you, I wonder?" He sighed and leaned forward, pushing his hand against his leg. His gaze fell onto his feet and his brow creased.

"I don't think so. Her mother needs her more than anything." Yes, he'd told them about the incident with Teddy and the events surrounding Charlie's birth. Why was it they were so able to accept, to talk about it, and to avoid judging him? His own parents couldn't give that same respect. "More than likely, Teddy would raise her. I love Charlie, I do, but I don't think I could give her the same love that Teddy could."

"You could give her the love of a father, but really I see your point. She would be best with her mother."

"Do you see yourself ever coming to New York in the future?" Skyler asked. He lifted his eyes and felt his heart lift as he imagined himself holding her in his arms. He wanted that more than anything.

"I'm practically planning a trip up there anyway. With everything going the way it is…I probably will." If he did, he surely wouldn't look back. "I can't talk to anyone in this family without something going wrong. There's no sense! Dad's worthless and Mom's insane. I bet Dad's in my room getting drunk right now…_again!"_ He paused and quieted his voice, breathing out a heavy sigh. His hand brushed through his coarse hair and his eyelids closed gently over his eyes. "I've come to realize something, Skyler…Emmett helped me clarify."

"What's that?"

"There's a difference between infatuation, love, and lust…I _love_ you, Skyler. Truly, more than anything, I love _you_." He listened to her breath catch and the phone grew silent, minus the gentle music in the background. "I…this is kind of hard to say with your parents right there, but I want to get it off my chest." He heard David chuckle and smiled as he began to picture himself there with them. He needed them in his life, there was no denying that truth. "Skyler. I need you, I need you in my life. I feel like a better person when I'm with you, be it together or miles apart. Maybe…maybe this was what Emmett was saying earlier. Maybe you're that person for me." Could it be? "I know it's going to take a long time before I'm…healed…but I feel like if I'm with you, I'll be okay."

"PJ…I'll always be by your side if you need me. Right now I'm just a phone call away, but…you know where I stand. I love you too PJ. Mom and Dad love you too."

"Yeah. Mr. and Mrs. Bosca…you're the family I never had."

"Well we can never control who our family is," Amanda spoke. Her soft voice helped to ease him, it was as though she were talking to her own flesh and blood. "We can't control everything that happens in our lives, but we can do everything to make the best out of it. We're glad to know you and to be a part of your life as much as you are ours.

"Thank you. I know I've unloaded a lot onto you guys, but I really appreciate you just talking to me through it all. I mean, it helps tremendously."

"It takes a lot of strength and courage, trust as well, to talk about the things you do. So we're always happy to listen."

"Yeah," Skyler replied, "and did you say Teddy wanted to tell Spencer?"

"Unfortunately." He had a bad feeling in his gut and couldn't stand the thought of Spencer knowing a thing. "I just have a feeling things won't get any better if she does. I mean, if she trusts him like that, more power to her. It is her call after all."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't trust him. He's a flake, in my opinion."

"You're not the only one that thinks that." He laughed lightly and thought on Emmett, Ivy and Jo. Every one of them complained that Spencer was a flaky little prick who couldn't be trusted with the responsibility of brushing his teeth before going on a date. Ironically, Teddy had come back several times, nauseated with his kissing her with bad breath. "I guess only time will tell. I'm not going to tell her not to, but I can't say for sure whether I should sit idly by."

"You can't just avoid her forever."

"I know. We want things to feel right…to be a brother and sister again, to be a family again, but…I honestly don't know how that's going to happen."

"It'll take time."

"Yeah. A lot of time…" They'd probably never have that dynamic back again. That was his fear. Everything that the family had been was shattered, and it was all his fault.

* * *

Hmm, and it doesn't seem to get any better for them.


	6. Telling Spencer

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 6 (Telling Spencer)

Teddy and Spencer walked together in the park, the cool breeze blew against them and pulled them into calm and quiet mood as they gazed about the scenery. He had his arm around her waist and was smiling with pride, obviously happy to be dating again. She put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, smiling softly. "When I'm with you, Spencer…my cares go away." He reached over and kissed the top of her head. "I'm glad we're together."

"So am I." She thought it was funny that people didn't think he was good for her. He made her forget her impurity and he made her happy, he was like Skyler was to PJ. "I know people don't think much of me, but I'm promising you that I'll never do what I did again. I don't think I could." Her heart slowly rose and her gaze turned up towards him. "I don't think I've ever been so lucky, and I'm lucky to have you." He gently squeezed her and she hugged his waist.

She truly felt that she could tell him anything. Why did others not trust him, only because he made one stupid mistake? That should be reason enough he'd understand her, because he made a mistake. He knew how it felt to something wrong and have to suffer because of it. If he knew, if she could talk to him about what happened, maybe she'd be able to deal with her family. Maybe she'd be able to get through this life without going insane. Sure, there was a small bleak feeling that was telling her to _not_ tell him about the incident, but she only put that down to the fears imposed by the others like Ivy and PJ.

"Spencer, since we're back together, I do feel like I can trust you. You know, not to let me down." Disappointments happen, it's true, and bad things will always happen in life. The power was in how you dealt with the problem, or so, that's what she was told. "You wouldn't hurt me, and you'd listen if I had a problem. Right?"

"Of course." He looked at her with a curious glint in his eye, clearly confused about what she was talking about. "Is everything all right? Everything okay at home and stuff?"

"Sort of…" She took a deep breath and bowed her head, she was so nervous with him that she couldn't just come out and say what was on her mind. "So…Big basketball game in a couple weeks…"

"Last game of 2011, we're going to take the other team _out_." He puffed his chest out and smirked. She laughed. "You'll be there to root for the team right?" She wasn't too sure if she'd make it. With a light hum, she tried to think of the coming dates. Today was only the 30th, in a few weeks was Christmas vacation, which she wasn't too sure what the family had planned.

"We'll see. Mom and Dad might have something planned." He nodded and led her over to a bench with a light pole on either side. Once they sat, he put his arm around her shoulders and leaned back. "But even if I'm not there physically, I'm sure I'll be there in heart, rooting for the team." She lifted her hand up to his chest and put her head against his arm. Her heart was pounding and her nerves were flaring up even further as she tried to find the courage to say what she wanted to say. Why was it so damn _hard_? "Spencer…I can talk to you about anything, right?"

"Sure. What's on your mind?"

"I just…" She had to come out with it, stop prolonging it. She opened her eyes and looked up to him, he was gazing off at the trees and skies ahead of them. Her eyes were starting to tear up, and for no reason she thought. She trusted him, she kept telling herself that, and began to believe he wouldn't hurt her. She didn't need to be afraid of anything. "There are some things you need to know, and I…I trust you. I think I can, at least."

"You can. What's the problem? Is it the family?" He turned his attention to her, frowning and full of concern. "Everything good back home?" She dropped her gaze and slowly shook her head.

"There's a lot of fighting. Sometimes I feel like…I don't know…it's my fault. I get these urges sometimes, these feelings, and it sucks." He furrowed his brow and moved his hand to her shoulder, nodding gently, just listening. She lifted her eyes up to him, trembling, there was no turning back now. "I don't know how to say it, and I'm terrified. I know the way I feel for you is good, it has to be…" Everything she was saying, it was coming out differently than what was in her head, but she wanted to choose her words carefully here. "First thing you should know…I have a child." His eyebrows rose up and his lips parted, but no words came out. "It was just…I did something I shouldn't have. Mom and Dad, they never talked about sex, they refused and so we 'experimented' on our own…"

"Teddy? What are you saying? You have a child, and never told me? Have I ever met him?"

"Well it's a she, and yeah…but Mom's been pretending Charlie's hers." Spencer's eyes widened for a brief minute. Teddy started to feel a sickening sensation churning inside her, telling her to quit. Her defenses were starting to rise up and she was fighting to bring them down. "I never told anyone because…because of how she was conceived. I mean, Ivy knows, but I need someone else to be able to go to, and I want what PJ and Skyler have. They have love, trust, and…I want that."

"Okay." Spencer moved his arm back and took a deep breath, smiling vaguely at her. "I understand. Charlie's your daughter, I got it. So…who's the dad? Do you still have feelings for him?"

"Lust, and it's not right. It's impure, and I hate it. I'm trying to get away from that, to get back into a healthy relationship…it's just hard. Remember how I said mom and dad never told us anything about sex, so we experimented? PJ…is Charlie's dad…" Spencer's jaw dropped and Teddy quickly countered. "It was wrong though. I didn't know better, we didn't know better. If we knew now…I mean…"

Spencer turned his head away and stared off at the trees once more. Teddy frowned and waited fearfully as he processed the information. What was he going to do? What would he say? The longer he went with saying nothing, the more anxious she became. The more anxiety that grew, the more her emotions started to shoot up. She wore her heart on her sleeve, and now Spencer had the opportunity to either take it in or knock it off. Her eyes started to water a bit more and she slowly put her hand to his arm, which he immediately pulled it away. Her breath clinched in her throat and her voice quavered.

"Spencer? Please talk to me?"

"You slept…with your brother…" He slowly stood up, his face darkening. "You're a demon or something." She whimpered once and started to feel her heart sink back down into its pit. He was rejecting her, just like Ivy warned, and it _hurt_. "That's something…I…I can't respond to that, I can't do this. I mean…"

"S-Spencer?"

"I'm sorry Teddy. This is just too much, I can't do this. I just…I thought I could, but there are just some things you don't do, and sleeping with your-ugh, I think I'm going to be sick!"

"It was a mistake! We didn't know better!"

"That doesn't change things very much!" She whined as he started walking off, muttering to himself. She turned her gaze back to the ground, absorbing what just occurred here. Did Spencer just dump her? She could feel her heart shattering, tearing apart. Choking on a sob, she moved her hands to her eyes and let the tears fly out.

It wasn't long before Ivy was next to her, responding to a very garbled phone call. Teddy could hardly speak through her sobs, but it she was able to get enough out for Ivy to know she just told Spencer, and Spencer dumped her. "He said I was a monster, Ivy! A monster!" Ivy hugged her and rocked with her.

"You're not one, Teddy. Don't listen to him, he doesn't know anything…You are a good person and a good mother, okay? You hear me? Teddy Duncan is no demon. You can't let one bad act dictate your whole life."

"Why not!" It hurt badly enough, why shouldn't she let it rule her? After all, it seemed to do a good job of ruining her life. "I committed incest, I had sex with my brother, so no one's going to want to be with me!"

"Don't say that. You know it's not true. You just have to be extra careful of who you tell these things. Be honest, but, not with someone that's already hurt you the way Spencer did. If they don't have a good track record, then they're probably not the best person to share the innermost details of your life with, and that is one thing that you definitely need to be careful with."

Ivy was right, she should have protected her heart more. She thought she could trust Spencer with something so tender, but what he did in return was rip off the band-aid from an open wound. "Why? Why do I always have the bad stuff happen to me? Why can't things work out right for once? It's not my fault I have these things…is it? I mean, sure I'm 'attracted' to my own brother, and I hate it! Spencer was the one keeping those feelings away." At least now she knew how PJ felt when Skyler left. "Nothing_ ever_ goes my way!"

"I'm sorry Teddy, I'm so sorry." Ivy hugged her again and let her cry. The two remained like that for some time, she didn't know just how long she was a sniveling wreck for. "It's okay. I'm right here for you, cry as much as you like." She was grateful to have Ivy's friendship, but she knew if her parents ever found out about what happened, they would likely not want her hanging around Ivy much longer. If that happened, she didn't know what she'd do. It was like she relied upon her, and a bit on PJ as well, but only because he was her brother and he knew how she felt. "Would you like me to have a 'talk' with Spencer? Cause I will."

"No. Don't mess with it, just don't…" The last thing she wanted anyone doing was getting into a fight over this. It wasn't worth it. "Spencer…he's not worth it, he's just-"

"He's a prick." Could there still be a chance to tell if he'd come back around? She didn't know, and even if he did, could she really trust him again? He devastated her, and he didn't even _care_. "Don't you fret over it, Teddy…Let's get you back home to your baby." She smiled and slowly nodded as she started wiping her eyes dry.

"Charlie does make me happy."

"Exactly. Now that's one person who will love you no matter what. Even if you lost everything, you'd still have her."

"True." She really wanted to be with her daughter now, rather than crying over Spencer. At least Charlie would probably make her smile somehow. "I want to take care of her, I love her with all my heart." That was the way it should be, not this pretending to be her sister when she wasn't. "I'm being honest with her now, she knows I'm her mother…"

"That's good, and I bet you feel better about that, right?"

"Yes."

* * *

Wow, that is harsh. What did you guys think of this chapter? We've not seen the last of Spencer, but pretty soon I'm betting you won't think he's redeemable. We'll see. **  
**


	7. A Mother's Worst Fear

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 7 (A Mother's Worst Fear)

"Can't you go any faster!" Teddy screamed in the back of an ambulance, it was half past midnight and the black sky was filled with red and blue, and the deafening roar of a siren. She was sitting beside a stretcher where Charlie was lying with paramedics trying to keep her stabilized. Teddy had gone in to check on her and found the girl not breathing. Her tiny heart was beating erratically and her body was shaking. She must have woke the entire house with her shrill cry.

Her own heart was racing as she watched with devastating tears. Charlie's trembling had stopped, but the paramedics still had a respiratory mask over her and the paramedics were working as hard as they could. She held onto Charlie's hand for dear life, pleading and begging for her to be okay. Behind the ambulance, Bob and Amy tried to keep up, with Gabe no longer able to sleep. On the other side of the stretcher, PJ sat, holding onto Charlie's hand, his eyes were filling with tears. "It's going to be okay, sis. She'll be okay."

"I can't lose her! Not now." She put her forehead against Charlie's hand and started to sob. The ambulance screeched to a halt in front of the hospital and the doors flew open Teddy and PJ followed them out as they carried Charlie's stretcher. After rushing into the hospital, they couldn't go into the emergency room where they took the baby. Teddy put her hands to her face and started sobbing as PJ gave her a brotherly hug. This wasn't the time to worry about how they looked, or how they felt, it was a genuine concern for one another and for Charlie. "What is happening to my baby?"

Finally the rest of the family came running through the hallway. Gabe couldn't stop watching the door, fearing the worst. Even Amy was concerned, and she came over to hug Teddy herself. "Charlie's going to be okay Teddy. She's going to be okay…I know it's scary." A mother's worst fear was losing her baby, and even though the doctors said Charlie might not live long after birth, she always hoped the girl would make a breakthrough. She always hoped Charlie would prove them wrong. "Maybe tonight we put aside our differences and just hope the best for her? I know right now, we shouldn't be fighting. Your baby girl's heart just can't take it tonight."

"Or any night…" Teddy pulled away and moved towards the door, peering through the rectangular window with her tearstained face and messy hair. Her mind played through every scenario to find out what could possibly have happened. All throughout the day, it was just one big mess after another. Everyone was yelling at one another, throwing blame, and Charlie had been in the middle of it all. They wanted to blame Spencer, but it wasn't his fault. Teddy was the one that brought up what he did the day before. Amy got into her 'I told you so' moods, which put Teddy on edge, causing her to yell. PJ jumped in to defend her point, then Bob got involved, and finally Gabe started yelling to get everyone to shut up. It was late into the night and Charlie couldn't stop crying. Eventually she cried herself to sleep at around ten. After that, there was nothing. This family was a danger to her baby, and she needed to find a way to solve the problem.

_Teddy slowly entered Charlie's room, her eyes were swollen from the tears cried during the fight. She moved towards her daughter's crib and put her hands to the edge. "Momma's sorry, baby. I know there was a lot of yelling earlier, and it's a mother's job to protect her young…I should have put a stop to it."_

_ She reached in and gingerly swept away the young child's bangs with a shaky finger. It was clear this tension had to stop if Charlie was to have a normal life. When things blew out of proportion, it seemed everyone forgot about how it affected the poor girl. How was Teddy supposed to protect her little girl if the problem was the people in the home? "I know there's no excuse to involve you in all this mess sweetie…things are just getting rough and you shouldn't have to suffer because of it." _

_ Why did she feel like something was wrong? Terribly wrong? She slowly moved her hand towards Charlie's chest. A crease formed along her forehead as she felt Charlie's heart beating very rapidly, but with the occasional flutter and spike. Upon closer inspection, she noticed Charlie's chest was not rising, and the girl had a very light tremor that was steadily increasing throughout her body._

_ Instantly fear and panic shot through her as she realized the worst, her baby wasn't breathing! She let out a loud shriek and lifted Charlie from the crib. "Charlie! Charlie wake up sweetie!" She flew through the room and down the stairs, calling everyone in the house. Her own heart was beginning to race and tears burned her retinas as she cradled her baby close to her chest. Within seconds she was at the couch, trying desperately to give Charlie rescue breaths to resuscitate her. The family was already at the couch, everyone had burst from their rooms about the same time she screamed for them. "Someone call 911! Charlie's not breathing!" _

_ "Move over, let me take her!" Amy exclaimed while Bob grabbed for the phone. Teddy looked up at her mom, wincing for one second. "You don't have time to hesitate, I'm a nurse Teddy, let me take care of her. Trust me. I'm still her grandmother." She handed Charlie over and watched her mom attempt to recognize what was happening to the toddler's body and attempt CPR while Bob attempted to remain calm on the phone. _

_ She felt PJ's hand on her shoulder, but kept her eyes glued to Charlie, who was now lying on the ground with her grandmother kneeling above her. She was shivering, trying to keep from breaking down and crying, trying to remain strong, but she didn't know how much longer she could hold on. Her knees were weak and her breathing was near hyperventilation, she wanted to scoop Charlie up and hold her tight. Right now, though, Amy was right. It was better for Amy to be dealing with this._

_ "I'll die…Take me god, please take me…" She whispered this and closed her eyes, praying to take Charlie's place. The girl didn't need to go, if anything, Teddy was more than willing to take her child's place. "Don't take her, don't take her…" She felt like falling to her knees, bawling, and probably would have if she wasn't so desperate on trying to remain calm. How could anyone do that, though? To remain calm when their own child was dying?_

_ Then she broke, when the sirens came, she indeed fell to her knees. The fear was overwhelming, and she began seeing the inevitable. She felt Gabe's brotherly arms around her, trying to calm her down, but she was a screaming, sobbing train wreck. Try as they might, there was no calming her._

"My baby's dying and they won't let me be in the room right now," Teddy was shaking tremendously and hugging herself as she sat on the hospital bench. PJ and Gabe sat beside her as Bob paced before them. Amy had gone in the room to help, considering she was a nurse. "I need to be in there! I need to see my baby!" She was out of control, frantic, and yet at a loss for what to do.

"They just need to focus on their work," PJ rationalized. She could see he wasn't completely calm either, even though on the outside he seemed like he was. His eyes gave away his own fear. "They'll let you go in when they're done. She'll be okay. Charlie's a Duncan through and through, she's strong, like the rest of us."

"I can't take it anymore, PJ! I'm sick of all this fighting, it's hurting my daughter! It's hurting all of us!"

"I know…"

"I hate it! If Charlie dies in there…if she dies…" She bent forward and buried her head into her legs. Her brothers started to rub her back as she continued her frantic cries. She didn't want to live this life anymore, she didn't want to go through this hellhole that she was dealing with. "I can't stand it. If she doesn't make it…"

"Teddy think about what you're saying for a minute."

"I don't _care!_ She's all I have left!" PJ and Gabe flinched at her words. She could tell they hurt, but she didn't falter. Her voice rose and she beat her hand against the bench. "I'm losing everything because of my stupid actions, and now I'm going to lose the only person important to me!" She didn't _mean_ to make it sound like no one else mattered, but how could anyone else matter to her like Charlie mattered? No, it just wasn't possible. "I love you guys, but Charlie's…she's my everything…If I lose her, I'll lose everything."

"I know it feels hopeless, and believe me, I _do_ know how you feel." PJ took a deep breath and removed his hand from her back. She slowly looked up to him, barely able to see as her tears had blurred her vision too badly. "Come on, take a walk with me to the vending machine." He pulled her up and started leading her away from Bob and Gabe. When she looked back, she saw Gabe with his head bowed and eyes wet with tears. Bob, of course, was still pacing and lost in his own thoughts. "I thought maybe we should talk without making Gabe any more upset than he already is."

"We always seem to forget he's here…" She didn't really think about how Gabe must have felt about it. There were certain situations that were not avoidable, and if push came to shove, Gabe may as well be just as affected as everyone else.

"You and I aren't the only ones that would probably like to die from all this pressure, and to be completely honest, I'm planning on leaving." Her eyes widened and terror struck her already crushed heart. She watched, frozen, as PJ removed some money from his wallet and started to feed the vending machine. She couldn't lose her brother, not when she needed him. "Don't get me wrong, but some of these thoughts and feelings I have…they're too much."

"I know, I feel them too, but…why would you leave?"

"To get away. To be with Skyler." He retrieved his snack, a bag of chips, and turned to her with a frown. "I don't know. I haven't gotten the urge to leave yet. I mean I want to, but I don't want to impose myself on her family. Things need to get better with our family though, I know you see that."

"Everyone's getting pushed over the edge right now. Charlie's not in a safe environment…"

"No she's not. Obviously our parents aren't going to change on their own, so I don't really know what we're to do about them. What I do know is that Gabe needs us for now, Charlie needs us…or well, she needs _you_ anyway. Leaving, that's easy, but taking your own life…" PJ looked over to Gabe, who was glancing warily at them. "It's one thing to leave a sibling with a hope they may see you again, if you ever have to _actually_ leave. It's another thing to leave your sibling with the feeling that they've just lost you forever." She would hate for it to have to come to that, but at this rate, was it inevitable? She couldn't just keep Charlie's health at risk. "Sure there comes that time when you have to put yourself and your children above all else, but at least don't make people innocent victims."

"Would you actually leave? I mean…"

"If things got bad enough, probably. I know Skyler's family is more than willing to help me out if I need a place to stay."

"I don't know what I'd do if you left, PJ, and I'm only saying that because you're my brother. That's _all_." She knew how the phrase could be misconstrued, and clearly PJ caught it too as he chuckled awkwardly. "Either way…you're my brother, and probably the only person in this crazy family that still seems somewhat _sane_."

"Yeah. Right." His response was somewhat gruff, as though he didn't believe it. Of course disbelief was understandable, as he likely thought he had to be insane for sleeping with his sister. "Look, Mom's coming out of the room."

Teddy looked over to see Amy outside, motioning for her. She walked towards the room, still filled with that anxious hope that Charlie would be okay. She looked at her mother rather timidly, waiting for the woman to say something, and trying unsuccessfully to read her expression. "You can see Charlie now."

"Is she…"

"She'll be okay. She had a seizure, has shortness of breath, and a faulty heart. If she gets overstressed, well…" Amy turned her head towards the door and stepped aside. Right now, Teddy only wanted to see her daughter.

"We've known she had a fragile heart…" Teddy moved into the room, letting the door shut behind her. It was only going to be her seeing Charlie right now, the others would have to wait. "Baby?"

Charlie was lying on the bed, her eyes were open and searching. "Mama?" Her voice was weak, frightened. Teddy hurried to her side and felt Charlie grip her hand. The girl looked up at her and started to smile. It was amazing that the girl could smile through all of this, and here Teddy was, sniffing and crying. "Mama, why are you crying?"

Her heart was pounding as she knelt beside her daughter. "Because I was scared." She put her hand to Charlie's forehead and slowly brushed it behind the girl's head. Charlie's tender smile touched her mournful heart and soothed her fear. "But you're okay now. Charlie, I'm so sorry. I'm supposed to protect you, and..."

"Don't cry mommy. I love you." She opened her mouth and slowly smiled at her, carefully wiping away a tear.

"I love you too." She hugged Charlie close and shut her eyes, letting her tears roll along her cheeks. "I'll always love you." Right now, it seemed like it was just the two of them against the world. Maybe that's how it was meant to be. "I'll protect you, baby." She kissed Charlie's forehead and climbed up onto the stretcher, snuggling with her daughter. Charlie curled up in a ball, making a soft humming noise after breathing.

* * *

Whoa, that was intense. So Charlie has a very fragile heart, heart issues run in the family. What did you think of this chapter?


	8. Building Pressure

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 8 (Pressure Building)

Monday morning, Teddy slowly made her way to the school's front doors. She was noticing something off, the students were all staring at her and whispering. It was making her rather nervous, but she didn't want to say anything. She saw Spencer off to the right, unable to look at her. He was staring down at the ground guiltily, and even had a black eye. She stopped and called out to him. "Spencer, what happened to you?"

"Ivy happened."

"Oh no." She groaned and started inside. This was what she was _afraid_ of, and she explicitly told Ivy to leave things alone! She was oblivious to all the stares she was getting while storming towards Ivy's locker, but when she really started noticing, she began to feel as though she were naked before them all. What was their problem? When she made her way to the lockers, she froze. Hers was beside Ivy's and had something spray-painted on it. She wasn't close enough to tell what the red letters said, but she was already speculating. "No…" Her breath snapped off and her eyes began widening. They couldn't know, could they?

Before she could move towards her locker, Ivy stepped in front of her. "Teddy! We have problems." Teddy whimpered and shifted her gaze to Ivy. Ivy put her hands to her shoulders and quickly glared at the people staring. "What are you freaks looking at? Back off!" Her barking order scared some of the group away, but it didn't ease matters at all. "Teddy, the dumbass Spencer started a nasty _rumor_ about you and your brother." Instantly she felt as though someone just jabbed her in the gut. How could this be possible? Spencer told the school about her incident with PJ? Seriously? "Apparently it was unintentional. I kind of went after him and punched him before he could explain…he was talking to a good friend of his on the basketball team about the breakup and apparently slipped up about the incident."

"Oh god." She threw her hand to her mouth and felt her stomach churning. Her breakfast was already beginning to come up. She didn't need this, not after what happened a couple nights ago with Charlie. What was she supposed to do _now_? She couldn't show her face around school with this going on!

"Emmett's trying his best to put down these rumors, but it's not exactly working out." Teddy stepped back and put her free hand to her stomach, moaning loudly as she tried to stifle a sob. "We're going to solve this, Teddy. We can get through this." Was she crazy? How could they _possibly_ get through any of this?

"I-I can't be seen here anymore, Ivy! They'll blacklist me, they'll-" She looked to her locker and saw it had been opened. The only one that knew the combination was Ivy. "Why's my locker open?"

"I caught people slipping notes in…I went to read them and-" She brushed past Ivy, intent on reading those notes, but Ivy quickly yanked her back. She yelped and protested, struggling with all her might to get to her locker. "No Teddy! You don't need to read them!"

"Why? Why not! What are people saying about me?" She finally managed to pull away, glaring at Ivy. "That I'm a whore? A tramp? A 'brother-lover'? A _demon?_ I've heard it all before from my own family, I've called myself those names, it can't be much different! I'd like to at least know how much people hate me. Are there death threats in there too?"

"Well…" Ivy frowned and looked towards the side. Teddy was overcome with shock and slowly stepped back, trembling with fear. Her fears were confirmed at that. "It's not like anyone would be serious about some of those." She whimpered and buried her face into her hands. "Teddy, it's going to be okay. I promise…" How fast had this spread? At least since last Wednesday, it could have gone anywhere. Then it hit her, what if anyone went to Mr. Heglin's church? Even Ivy went there, so if anything, both Emmett's and Ivy's parents might have found out!

"Oh god…" She couldn't do this. She shook her head and backed up, staring at her friend's concerned gaze. "No." An empty feeling overcame her as she started to feel everyone around her, voices echoing in her head. She could hear them, calling her all the names she called herself. She put her hands to her head and felt her knees beginning to give out.

"Teddy?"

Ivy started to put her hand to Teddy's shoulder, but she quickly shook it away, screaming. "No!" Unable to stand it there any longer, she broke out into a run. With tears in her eyes, she tuned out the voices around her and tuned out Ivy calling after her. She stopped for a second outside and spotted Spencer, frozen in place with wide eyes. He gazed sorrowfully at her, but she felt nothing but loathing for him. She bit her lip and growled. "I _trusted_ you. You fucking bastard! I hate you!"

"Teddy!" He exclaimed. His 'friends', his 'teammates' stood around him and laughed. He glared at them and put his hand up. "Shut _up_ guys! Seriously!" He turned back to her and frowned. "Teddy, I'm sorry. Honestly, I never meant-"

"Shut up. I should _never _have trusted you!" She looked over her shoulder and saw some of the cheerleaders smirking at her. The head cheerleader walked towards her with a smug look on her face, her blond curls bouncing with every step.

"Wow. And I thought fucking Mr. Reinhardt for an A was bad, but you screwing your brother makes _me_ look like a saint!" The girl laughed, sending a cold chill down Teddy's spine. She whimpered as everyone around her began laughing. "Slut!" The cheerleader started pumping her fist in the air, starting a chant that everyone joined in on. She could hear Ivy trying to shut everyone up, along with Spencer, but it was to no avail.

She started running off, the students began following her, only making her blood pressure rise to frightening levels. She clenched her eyes and jumped into the street, praying that a car would hit her.

She heard the screeching of tires on pavement and the screaming of the students trying to avoid being hit. When she looked back, she saw Emmett blowing his horn and signaling her to get in. Without hesitation, she ran into his car and let him speed off. "Let me just say, I'm sorry you're going through this," he said while glancing off in the rearview mirror.

She sniffed and pulled her knees up to her chest, burying her head into them and sobbing. She wasn't sure where they were going, but she didn't want to talk. Today was already beginning to be hell, and she feared it would get worse if she opened her mouth.

Emmett swerved around the corner and sighed as he started slowing down the car. "By the way, we're going to go see PJ." She scoffed and lifted her head, glancing out the window and watching the buildings go by. "Have to be careful. Mom and Dad know now and don't want me hanging around you guys, but I don't really care." She raised an eyebrow, but still remained silent. She wasn't surprised to hear about his parents, but it was at least good that he was willing to still try and stay connected to his friends. "Ivy's parents feel the same way, but-"

"Great." She narrowed her eyes and looked away, mumbling softly. She didn't care anymore. What was the point, she should have known she'd lose her best friend due to this eventually.

"Don't give up hope on her yet Teddy, she's not done anything." She waved her hand in the air and sighed. She needed a break, she _wanted_ a break, but when would she get one? Either way, she didn't know that she wanted to see PJ right now, and was curious as to what they'd talk about. He was pretty much done with school, so he wouldn't have to endure the hell that she'd just seen.

The rest of the drive was very quiet. They met up with PJ outside of the Kwikki Chikki, and he did _not_ seem happy. He was pacing the front, tapping his chin and growling at random moments. Teddy hurried from the car, followed closely by Emmett. "PJ, what's wrong?" He stopped his pacing and glanced over to her with a subtle frown.

"I'm not longer employed. Apparently Mitch got hold of the fact that you and I did…you know…and so he fired me." He sat at one of the outside tables and started tapping his fingers anxiously. Wasn't it illegal to fire someone just because of something like this? Discrimination? Then again, Mitch and Kwikki Chikki were anything _but_ legal. "Why am I not surprised?" He smacked his hand down on the table, causing her to flinch for a brief moment. "I was his best damn worker, or at least the best out of those shitheads in there!" He leaned back and yelled his last few words at the building, shooting off an obscene gesture. "I'll be back with a lawsuit one day! Just you watch!"

"Okay PJ, relax…" She was surprised to be saying _that_ after this morning, but hell, one of them had to be calm. She couldn't be, so it was kind of expected that he be the calm one. He took a deep breath and leaned forward on the table, staring her in the eyes. "So why did you have Emmett bring me here?"

"He told me about the crap going on at school. I just thought I'd pull you away for a bit, enough to let you know that Mom and Dad want to visit grandma for Christmas. They said they have some sort of announcement to make."

"Oh great…Grandma Petunia?" She rolled her eyes and leaned back in the chair. The incorrigible grandmother, of course! Why _wouldn't_ they go see her? "You've got to be kidding me…I'm not in the mood for extra stress."

"Well no one said it'd be _extra_ stress…So anyway. You and Emmett want to hang out at the mall for a bit? I figure you don't want to mess with school right about now." She groaned and leaned forward, propping her arm up on the table and rubbing her forehead.

"That's the last place I want to be. The slutty cheerleader, you know, the one that hits on all the teachers?" He slowly nodded and raised an eyebrow. "She was calling _me_ a slut, PJ! _Me!_ It was one time! One time, and it didn't even mean anything at all!" She started to sob again, her emotions still getting the better of her as usual. PJ shook his head and Emmett rubbed her back, there really wasn't anything they could say. All she wanted was to be left alone. "I'm now the pariah of the school! Great! All because I just _had_ to tell Spencer!" She groaned loudly and moved her hands over her eyes, increasing her sobs. "God I hate my life! At least Gabe doesn't have to deal with this, right?" Emmett and PJ exchanged sad glances and lifted their shoulders.

At the junior high, Gabe was doing fairly better, but there were some kids that heard the news from their older brothers or sisters. He was being taunted for having a pair of siblings that had sex with each other. Of course, his best friend Jake, and Jo, were at his side defending him.

Currently Jo was up on the cafeteria table, shaking her fist at the students. "Any of you want to mess with _my _boyfriend, you come through _me_. You got that!" Gabe chuckled as her left eye appeared to grow larger than her right, giving her that cute, but creepy glare that could scare the skin right off someone's bones. "I am not far from mastering martial arts, so if anyone wants to tango, we can tango!"

Jake put his hand to Gabe's shoulder and smirked. "I'd like to say something, but I think Jo's handling it just fine."

"Probably." He drew in a heavy breath and started to leave the cafeteria. He was grateful for Jo, grateful for Jake, but he didn't need protection. No, what he wanted protection from, they likely couldn't help with.

As he stepped out into the courtyard, he glanced up at the sky. The school's courtyard was basically an open area inside the school with no roof above it, nothing too special about it, but it created the feeling of being outside. He loved the outdoors, it always calmed him down, and lately that was the best escape.

"Home is hell, and it isn't getting any better…" There was a sinking feeling in his gut, something that told him the trouble hadn't even begun yet. He loved PJ and Teddy, and he loved Charlie. He was a bit confused whether she was his sister or his niece, but he still figured her as a niece more than a sister. The last thing he'd ever want was to lose them, but the way things were going, he was beginning to fear the worst.

Gabe bowed his head and slowly closed his hands. School used to be an escape, video games used to be an escape, but not anymore. Every day was another fight, and every day meant a greater part of the picture was shattered. The people he loved and held closest to his heart, he felt slipping away and becoming more and more distant than ever.

Was there _nothing_ he could do? For the first time in his life, he was aghast, and felt truly helpless and alone. A tear left his eye as his still heart started to darken. Even he blamed his parents for everything that was going wrong. He wasn't stupid, he heard PJ and Teddy talking about leaving the house some day, if things were bad enough. Did they know how much he needed them? How much he depended on them?

Now his parents wanted to visit Grandma Petunia for Christmas. Normally he would be overjoyed, but he knew his grandmother's track record pretty damn well. There was just that unshakeable feeling in the pit of his stomach, something he couldn't get rid of no matter how hard he tried. Something was bound to go wrong. He just knew it.

"Hey Gabe, are you okay?" Jake asked from behind. He jumped at his friend's voice and turned to see his friend and his girlfriend staring at him. He smiled sadly and shrugged.

"I don't know yet. I don't know…if things will ever be okay…"

* * *

That was very rough, and Gabe seemed a bit foreshadowing. Spencer should have kept his mouth shut. Pity PJ lost his job too, though I'm not so certain it is legal how he got fired for that. Well what do you guys think of the chapter.


	9. Bad Blood

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 9 (Bad Blood)

Finally onboard the plane, just a few days before Christmas, Teddy was preparing for a time of relaxation. At least, relaxing was what she hoped would take place. She'd been avoiding school, and Ivy, for the last week. Ivy wanted her to go to Florida with her, but she opted out of it, especially when Mr. and Mrs. Wentz told her there was no way she was going with them. So, essentially she had no choice but to go to Grandma Petunia's.

She eyed her family with a mournful frown, unable to shake a desperate feeling inside. No one was talking to one another, except for PJ and Gabe, who were discussing that _Galaxy of Death 2_ game. Gabe attempted to sneak the console onboard, but it didn't work out for him. Of course, PJ didn't appear too thrilled that he hid the game itself within his clothes. Lately Gabe had been very depressed, but it was probably due to the fighting. Amy had stayed out of everyone's way for a little bit, the fighting was mostly between Bob and PJ, who had begun to tire of the habit his father had with leaving vodka bottles in _his_ bedroom.

She hoped Grandma Petunia could keep her big mouth closed, as she was definitely the stereotypical judgmental grandmother. Hank was the cool grandparent and often nice, perhaps the only nice member of the outside family. Aunt Diane wanted nothing to do with any of them, Uncle Mel, his children, and grandchildren stayed the hell away.

"What part of 'I do not want to go' didn't you understand?" She whispered to her mother beside her. Amy rolled her eyes and lifted her hand.

"We're going, and you're not going to complain. We don't have a choice, and I want to see my mother." Odd, considering Amy liked her mother about as much as she cared for Amy. Teddy shook her head and glanced out the window as the plane hovered above the clouds. "Look, I know you don't like her, and I'm not too thrilled either, but…I don't know. Maybe one day you'll understand, a mom and a daughter will always wind up going back to each other no matter how much bad blood there is." She chuckled and leaned against the arm of her chair, raising her hand up and resting it against her head.

"I don't know about that one." Amy frowned and glanced sorely at her, then moved her eyes towards her sons. "I don't mean that in a bad way or anything, I just think if things get bad enough between parents and their kids, then they never go back."

Bob laughed and Teddy snapped her eyes to him. "If that were the case Teddy, your mother would never see Petunia as long as she lived. There are some things you just don't understand or know." Amy put her hand up and Bob silenced, which caused all three kids to exchanged concerned glances. It wouldn't matter, they wouldn't know anything anyway, considering Amy rarely ever spoke of her past. In Teddy's mind, she was sure if there was enough bad blood, she could look away and never look back. All she needed to survive was her little baby girl, and if she wanted to up and leave with Charlie, she had every right as she had full custody. Hell, her mom even said once in an argument, if she wanted to walk out the door, she could do it at any time.

"I just don't want my kids making the same mistakes I made," Amy made a retort and opened the book on her lap. "Not that mistakes haven't _been_ made…" Teddy and PJ groaned and Amy quickly defended herself. "I'm not saying anything about Charlie. She's my granddaughter and I _do_ love her." She paused and stared down at her book. "You know what? I'm just going to shut up now."

When they arrived at Palm Springs, they met up with Hank and Petunia outside the airport. The grandparents hugged everyone and helped cart them all towards the house. "It seems like it's been such a long time since we've seen you guys!" Petunia exclaimed joyously. Amy chuckled nervously and whistled softly as she glanced at the book she'd been reading during the entire flight. Teddy raised an eyebrow at her and shrugged her shoulders.

She was in the front passenger seat with Petunia driving her car, Amy and Bob sat in the back. Hank drove with Gabe, PJ, and had the car seat with Charlie. Teddy was a little worried about Gabe, because he'd been complaining constantly of some bad feeling he had towards this little vacation. It was almost like he didn't want to be here one bit, that he was scared of something. Frankly, she felt if everyone remained on their best behavior, things would be just fine.

"Palm Springs is nice for this time of year," Bob remarked with a subtle smile. Petunia confirmed and Teddy turned to watch everything flying past as Bob and Petunia conversed. She wondered why it was Amy wasn't saying anything, but rather, she was acting just as vulnerable as everyone else had been. There didn't seem to be a reason for this attitude, but who was she to complain?

"It's good to be out of Denver right about now," Teddy marveled, "Too much stress." She was going to have to transfer schools, she didn't think she could make it another year with those kids up her back. "Everyone's giving myself and my brother grief nowadays." Petunia looked in the side mirror as she made a turn. Her frown lines increased in depth and her shoulders lifted.

"I can't imagine why they wouldn't. Having an incestuous affair with your brother can be pretty damaging." Teddy's jaw fell and Amy slammed her forehead against the back of the seat. It was only an innocent, offhand statement, but uncalled for all the same. She decided not to say anything, but it still opened up a dangerous wound.

"He and I don't…never mind…"

"Mom, _please_ don't start anything," Amy complained aloud. Petunia glanced to the rearview mirror and Teddy slowly looked back. "There's enough hell going on right now as it is. I already have all three of my kids hating me enough as it is."

"Well maybe if you raised them right, Amy."

"_Excuse_ me?"

"I'm only saying, they don't appear to be that well behaved. Certainly not how we raised you and your sister."

"Are you joking? We raised them the same way!" Amy straightened her back and narrowed her eyes. "You forced us with a belief that…" She growled and put her hand to her forehead while Bob rested a hand upon her shoulder. "You know what? No. I'm not getting into it here. Just watch your mouth."

"Excuse me, but I'm your mother, dear."

"Doesn't mean you need to parent _my_ kids."

"Someone has to."

When they made it to the house, shortly after the guys did, Teddy immediately rushed in to avoid dealing any longer with her mother and grandmother. PJ was scratching his head while watching Gabe and Hank on the couch, chatting up a storm. He looked over his shoulder and smirked. "How was the car ride? You look exhausted."

"Oh it was…_hell!_" Gabe and Hank looked over with knowing frowns. Teddy jerked her thumb over her shoulder and let out an annoyed growl. "Mom and Grandma are _still_ out there arguing about her parenting techniques. Grandma had the gall to say we were _still_ having some kind of thing going on!" PJ winced and put his hand to his stomach. Teddy slammed her foot on the ground and clenched her fists tight. "I'm telling you, I'm not going to deal with this, not now. Not on vacation. No, I am _not_ accepting it."

"Just stay calm, Teddy. You know stress isn't good for anyone…especially not Charlie." Teddy looked to Charlie, standing next to PJ. Her heart skipped a beat and she immediately hurried over, scooping up her baby girl.

"Charlie!" Charlie laughed and hugged her neck. Teddy closed her eyes and swayed side to side. Instantly her cares seemed to drift away. Of course, it didn't last long, as the front door flew open and the arguing voices of the women echoed through the air. Bob seemed to ignore them and walked on towards the couch. Teddy looked to her daughter, who covered her ears with her hands.

Hank rose up from the couch and cleared his throat. "Can you two please stop arguing for five minutes? Quiet yourselves! It's Christmas!" Petunia and Amy looked over and bowed their heads. "That's _better_. It's not like you have to fight every single time you get together…now, would you like to see your rooms?"

"Oh!" Petunia quickly lifted her head and moved a suggestive gaze to PJ and Teddy. "Do you two want to share a guest bedroom?" Teddy was aghast at the suggestion and PJ quickly smacked his forehead. Amy put her hands to her hips and Hank glared at his wife. "I'm only assuming because-"

"Grandma cut it out," Gabe pleaded. The others looked worriedly at him as he rose up and put his hands together. "They're _not_ doing anything. It was _one time_, leave them alone! Please! PJ and I are sharing a guest bedroom, we have air mattresses and everything. I think Teddy wants to be with Charlie, and then Mom and Dad are together. Is that good enough?"

"Y-Yeah I suppose, dear." Teddy sighed and slowly bowed her head, she felt terrible that _Gabe_ had to be the one doing damage control. She could see why, with the fears that he'd been having lately. "I never meant to upset anything, I was only suggesting-" Amy scoffed and slapped her hand against her mother's shoulder while walking past her.

"Yeah, you _never_ mean to upset anything, mother. You're _always_ 'only suggesting'. I can't imagine _why_ Diane never comes around you. I almost wonder when you're going to start suggesting Charlie's 'impure and immoral'."

"Well-"

"Just shut it!" Hank exclaimed, his voice booming over everyone. Teddy stared over with shock while PJ chuckled, impressed with his grandfather. "I'm sick of you two constantly fighting. Now, PJ and I are going to rent him a car, since I don't want him driving around in mine…"

"Why does he want to rent a car?"

PJ folded his arms over and lifted his shoulders. "You never know when I might need to go out for a drive." Hank lifted his eyes skyward and started moving forward, keeping his eyes locked with Petunia.

"Now while we're gone, I don't want any trouble going on! And yes, I'm looking at you, Petunia. Since usually trouble starts with you." The grandmother gasped and put her hand to her chest. "You have a tendency to say whatever you want without _thinking_, and that spoils everything for everyone."

"Well maybe it would just be best if I remove myself from the situation then, _Hank_."

"I never said that! I'm only saying you need to watch what you say, you know how sensitive everyone is. Especially our daughter and granddaughter. There's more than enough anger going on with everyone, and we should just _relax_ while they're here. No fights, no arguments. Am I clear?"

"I can't control whether or not anyone-"

"You can control what you say, Petunia. If you trigger anything, it'll be on you, not me. Maybe we should just keep you and Amy separated, and then separate Amy and Teddy, because this family is already on its last straws. At least let them try to _fix_ their problems before you throw your typical wrench into it."

"I beg your pardon, Hank, but I've _never_ thrown a wrench into anything. Is it my fault that our daughter didn't raise her children right? Is it my fault that they let their children find out about sex and commit incest? They're living a life of sin! I know how I raised _my_ children, but I don't know how-"

"Enough!" Hank's bellowing voice shook the very foundations of the home. Within minutes, he was pushing Petunia and Amy into separate rooms and locking them in. "You can both stay in there until you learn to stop your bickering, I am not going to be responsible for having to sift through whatever problems you two have."

Teddy watched her grandfather with wide eyes and listened to the two women protesting, she was very impressed with Hank, but surprised at the same time by his actions. She looked over to Bob, who was still sitting lazily on the couch and tuning everything out. She was hurting, but trying not to let her grandmother's words affect her. If it was at all possible to do so.

With a tearful gaze, she watched Hank leave with PJ after ordering everyone to remain separated. She carried Charlie to a bedroom and carefully sat on the edge of the bed. She was in too much shock, too much pain to say anything. Charlie moved behind her and started playing with her hair. Teddy leaned back and sighed, letting Charlie do whatever she wanted to. In the background, she could hear her mother and Petunia yelling at each other from their rooms. She didn't know what they were saying, but it didn't make the shockwaves of pain damaging her body any less impacting than if she did know their words.

If blood was thicker than water, then why was there so much bitterness and hate in this family? She looked back at Charlie, the girl had tears hanging at her eyelids. She was on medication now to avoid seizures and anxiety, but all this yelling was still not good for her health.

Maybe there was too much bad blood for this family to ever be repaired.

* * *

Well at least Hank's trying to do something, I almost feel bad for Amy. I wonder what there is we don't know about her past. This Christmas isn't starting out well. What do you think


	10. Explosions that Shatter

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 10 (Explosion that Shatters)

Christmas day had gone decently enough, though the tension in the air still remained even today. It had only been a couple of days and really no one was talking to each other. PJ and Teddy were at least being civilized with one another, as well as Gabe, but that was about it. Hank was trying to be civil with everyone, but it was increasingly difficult. PJ had made good use of the rental car and drove it often when he just wanted to get out of the area for a while, but Gabe felt there was something else on his mind.

He blamed himself for getting Hank addicted to _Galaxy of Death 2_, but that was the least of his worries. Jo had suggested he take some deep breaths and try to remain as calm as possible, but it was hard feeling like he was the only one trying to keep the family together. He was at war, desperately fighting to ensure peace, and unfortunately this was real. More so than a simple video game. This was his own family, and he was losing.

Currently, he was curled up in a seated position against the wall beside his and PJ's guest bedroom. His knees were up to his chest and his arms were around his legs, his face was buried in his knees as he listened to PJ talking on the phone to Skyler. His heart was at shattering levels, and certainly he felt he was going to die of a broken heart._ "Christmas was supposed to be good."_ Was he the only one that saw the inevitable? Was he the only one that _cared_? He wanted to do everything in his power to make things right, but _how_ could he do that when he was alone? Neither PJ nor Teddy held any hope for the family, it seemed, and his parents sure weren't doing anything right. Petunia hadn't made this easy on _anyone_. But _hey_, at least_ Hank_ had an escape from all the drama through the damned video game!

Gabe let his silent tears drift down his cheeks as PJ's voice rattled his very soul. "Skyler, I am telling you. I know I bought a ticket to fly to you guys for a visit, but I'm so close to making it permanent. I'm sick of all this fighting. It isn't good for my health, for Charlie's, or even Teddy. They're going to have to find their own way at this rate!" Gabe shook his head and ground his teeth together. Of course Skyler and her family were more than happy to let PJ live with them! Why _wouldn't_ they? "I don't know what I'm going to do if we can't fix this family, if it can even _be_ fixed."

He slowly lifted his head from his knees, his heart slammed against his chest. _Fixable_? Was this family fixable? He swept a tear away and started to push himself up. In the distance, he could hear more yelling, Petunia set off another bomb with Amy apparently. He frowned and moved his hand to his forehead.

"Why do you keep saying these things, mother!" Amy exclaimed at the top of her lungs. The house shook with rage that stung the inhabitants. Gabe heard PJ curse and tell Skyler he had to go. Teddy stepped out of her own bedroom and started hurrying towards the kitchen. Bob went out the backdoor with Charlie, and Hank let out a ferocious roar over losing a part of the game. "It's not my fault that Teddy and PJ slept with each other!"

"Well whose fault is it, then?" Petunia bellowed, slamming something hard on the kitchen counter. "If you raised them the way I raised you, then they wouldn't have bothered!"

"You raised me to think I was impure and immoral, _mother!_ You raised me to think sex was the devil! I raised my kids the same."

"And look what it caused," Teddy's voice broke in. Now she was a part of this argument. Gabe threw his hands into his hair as PJ hurried for the kitchen with Hank. He let out a loud whine and started running towards the kitchen.

Petunia was standing in front of the stove with a large pan of soup bubbling. Amy was red-faced and throwing her hands up into the air. Teddy was tense, her eyes spiteful and her voice raised to bellowing heights. This was what Gabe feared, the explosion that was inevitable. Was there nothing that could be done to avoid this? "You're right!" Petunia exclaimed while throwing an accusing finger at her. "It caused you to have a baby born a sin!"

"Oh I _know_ you didn't just call my daughter a sin! I don't care if you call me a demon, a devil, but you do _not_ call Charlie a devil!" Teddy rushed for Petunia, only to have PJ hurry behind her and throw his arms under her armpits and lock her arms in his.

"Don't do it!" He exclaimed. Teddy thrashed her arms out, trying to grab onto Petunia, screaming out angrily.

"Let me _go!_ She's already accused Mom of lying about her _new_ pregnancy, and thinks the new baby is ours! She's disgusting!" PJ groaned loudly and looked at Petunia, as if he were debating letting Teddy launch herself at the woman. Amy exclaimed and moved in front of Petunia, throwing her arms up in the air.

"The nerve you have!" Amy screamed. "You don't have any right to talk to her like that! She's my daughter!"

"As if you're any better!" Amy looked back at Teddy with wide eyes as she managed to pull away from PJ. "You've done nothing _but_ accuse me of being a demon, blaming _me_ for one little incident that could have been avoided if _you_ had just talked to us!"

"It isn't my fault!" Amy threw her arm towards Petunia, who immediately put her hand to her chest. "This _bitch_ taught me the same thing. Sex is immoral and the knowledge of it can influence people!"

Gabe put his back to the wall next to the kitchen doorway, rubbing his face with his hands. He started to sink towards the ground, sobbing lightly. Hank walked past him, daring to enter the kitchen. The man commanded the women to stop their fighting, but they shouted back at him to leave them alone and not get involved. Now the fight was escalating, with even Hank yelling out accusations at them.

"You have no right to talk to your mother like that!" Hank declared. "All of you need to silence yourselves _now_ and think hard about what you're fighting over!"

"Oh would you just shut up!" Petunia exclaimed. "You're no better than Bob is at all, lazing about and staying out of sight."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything! I practically raised our children alone, and you know it! I couldn't take care of them alone, and maybe if you were around, Amy would never have gotten involved with that Diddlebock boy!" Amy froze up and Hank shouted back. "That grabby boy was even more reason I say knowledge about sex influences behavior. Teddy and PJ found out about it, and then they decided to experiment…with each other! The devil got into them!"

"Would you seriously stop saying that!" Amy and Teddy shouted at the same time, both pushing Petunia back. Petunia smacked them both across the face and they froze, both in shock. Gabe's eyes widened and PJ let out an angry yell.

"That is _it!_" PJ threw his hands in the air and Gabe quickly stood up. His heart began racing. Sweat began forming at his forehead as PJ sliced his arm through the air. "I've had enough of the fighting. I've put this off enough, thinking you people could fucking change, but apparently not."

"P-PJ?" Teddy started, still in shock.

"Nothing against you Teddy, it's the rest of the family I have issues with. I'm done. I'm out. I got a place lined up, I got a future lined up, and the way I see it…" He glared at Petunia and Amy, then pointed at them. "It _doesn't _involve _you!_ Goodbye! And if anyone gets the idea to come after me like last time, don't even bother! I'm not coming back, I'm not looking back…When you get home, Emmett will be getting my things. Goodbye."

He turned and started for the door, steaming mad. Gabe whimpered, having seen this coming. He was trying to run after his brother, but his legs were as frozen as the air around him. He couldn't breathe and felt his tears burning his eyes. "PJ! Wait!" After PJ was out the front door, he finally mustered the courage to move, running after him.

By the time he got out, PJ was in the rental car. He wasn't even flinching, not even looking back at the house. Was he really that angry? Did he really want to leave without any second thoughts? "PJ! Please!" He started for the car, stopping only when PJ sped off down the road and took a sharp left turn. Falling to his knees, he pounded his hands onto the ground and started sobbing. "Don't _go_. I…need my brother." He'd be good, he wouldn't make fun of PJ or crack jokes anymore if that would keep PJ from leaving. "C-Come back."

The three women rushed out of the house and Amy scoffed. "Great! Thanks mom! You just drove my son away!" Gabe moaned as Petunia cried out in defense of the situation. He couldn't believe PJ just left and they _still_ fought.

"Why are you blaming _me_?" Petunia asked. "Maybe you should have parented him a little better!"

"Oh shut up!" Teddy screamed, tears were drenching her face, and her body was trembling. The older women stared at her with wide eyes as she clenched her fists and growled. "You can't stop being such a judgmental bitch for one minute, can you! As far as PJ's concerned, both of you drove him away! Now my brother's gone, and it's all your fault! I hate you, I hate you both!" Amy gasped and Petunia rolled her eyes.

"It might be for the best, Teddy dear. This way you and your brother don't-"

"Will you _shut up_ about the incest? We don't even like the fact that we did it, we knew it was wrong and were _trying_ to have a healthy sibling relationship! Now we can't, and it's because you can't keep your goddamn mouth _shut!_ Now I see why mom is such a bitch! I hope I'm better than either of you, because PJ's not the only one you're running off at this rate!"

Gabe looked over his shoulder as the women quieted themselves, the silence was only broken a few seconds later by Charlie's crying. Everyone rushed in and Gabe slowly moved inside the home to find Petunia's precious glass reindeer collection shattered on the floor. Charlie was in the middle of it and rubbing her eyes. Teddy gasped and ran for her, scooping her up and examining her child for cuts. Where was Bob?

Gabe looked around the room and saw Bob passed out on his back, he had a bottle of vodka in his hand and two bottles beside him. Amy screamed out at him and Petunia cried over her reindeer collection being broken. Was that seriously all this woman cared about? _Tell her not to touch things_. Was that it? Teddy was glaring at the woman while Gabe watched Amy trying to shake Bob awake.

Unable to take it anymore, he slowly moved out of the house and started pounding his fists on a nearby tree. He sank to his knees, letting the bark scrape up his arms. This was too, too much for him. This family was breaking up and he couldn't stop it! He sobbed loudly, not caring if anyone paid him any mind. Of course, they wouldn't, so it wasn't as though he was surprised. He was alone, as always.

The family left for home after a few days. Hank pretty much imprisoned everyone in various rooms, trying to make them 'think' about what went wrong. It gave everyone _plenty_ of time to think about things apparently, but it also gave enough time for them to find Emmett making good on PJ's words when they returned. Almost all of PJ's things had been cleared out.

Gabe fell onto his bed and sobbed there. The room was too quiet now, too lonely, and he felt like it was all his fault. Couldn't he have stopped it? Couldn't he have done something to keep them together? During the final days and the trip home, nobody spoke to each other. Teddy stayed only with Charlie, Bob mulled about his own shame and embarrassment for getting drunk during the fight, and the tension between Amy and Teddy was beyond overwhelming. Practically any exchange between the two had been spiteful at best. The bitterness and the hate was still there, still present, if not worse still.

He curled up on the bed and started pounding it with his fist. There was no way he could get over the emptiness of the room. Hell, PJ's bed was now just an empty mattress. The air was even colder than it had ever been. PJ was really gone.

"Gabe?" Charlie's voice broke out from the doorway. He looked over to see her with tears that shook his very soul. "Don't cry Gabe, things will be better. Momma says." She was all dressed up in a sunny, polka dot dress and her hair done in long pigtails. She had on a pair of yellow shoes as well, which concerned him. She gave him a sad smile and waved her hand in the air. "Grandma won't talk to me, maybe you will."

"Y-Yeah…" He sat up on the bed and wiped his eyes. "What's wrong?" Charlie walked over and climbed up on the bed, cuddling up next to him. He noticed now she had her yellow baby purse clinging from her shoulder. It struck fear into his heart. She only had that if she was going somewhere.

"Momma says now that PJ's gone, and everything's bad…" He began to pale and slowly looked towards his door. His breath caught in his throat as his eyes started to tear up. Was she leaving too? Teddy was leaving and taking Charlie with her? "Gran-Gran is upset and doesn't want to say goodbye to me, maybe you will too? Momma told me to say goodbye."

"Y-You're kidding…" He whimpered only when his fears were confirmed as reality. Teddy had moved in the doorway and was dressed up and had several bags of luggage around her. A taxi driver was helping to carry some of the suitcases off. "Y-You too, Teddy?"

"I'm sorry Gabe, it has to be this way…" She couldn't even look him in the eyes. "Charlie's health is suffering as much as mine, if not worse, and I need to think of her. I can't keep her in this environment, I'm sorry."

"But where-"

"I don't know, Gabe. I don't know where I'm going to go or what I'm going to do. I'll find something…and I've kind of found a job anyway."

"Where!" Teddy winced and rubbed the back of her head, chuckling nervously.

"It was…the only place that would hire me…the manager's nice!" She seemed hopeful, but at the same time, upset. "Which is a surprise…most managers at these kind of places are really rude, but this one's actually going to help me out a little. At least until I can finish high school. He's providing a place for a little bit even with one of my new coworkers…even if it is a shoddy little box, practically…Rent's dirt cheap and it'll come out of paychecks. It's only until I get on my feet, though!"

"Where will you go for school? Please say you're staying in Denver…"

"There's nothing for me here, Gabe. I'm sorry…"

"Please no." He started to sob as Teddy and Charlie hugged him. How did they expect him to _cope_? His soul was tearing apart with the loss of his siblings, the only people he valued, and they were leaving him behind!

"I do love you Gabe, but there's no choice now. I'm sorry. Mom and Dad have basically disowned me, there's too much fighting. They're also not exactly thrilled with the life I'm about to get into, but…there's no choice…"

"Don't go, Teddy."

"There's no _choice_, I have to leave now. I'm sorry." She took Charlie's hand and breathed in sharply, smiling sadly through her tears. "Look at it this way, in a few months Mom's giving birth. You'll have a new sibling to love."

"I don't _want_ another sibling, I want the ones I have now!" She closed her eyes and slowly turned away. Charlie waved one last goodbye at him and walked out with her mother. His stomach churned and started working the bile up his throat, but for some reason he was too afraid to move. He looked towards his window and gazed out in time to see Teddy and Charlie walking towards a big yellow taxi van.

Gabe slowly pushed himself up and moved towards the window, pressing his hands up against it. A tear fell from his eyes as he watched his sister move into the car, not even looking back at the house. Bob and Amy weren't even outside, they were in their bedroom. He knew that, since he'd been hearing them talk there. He remained silent as he watched the driver put the last of their luggage in the back.

Teddy held onto Charlie in the back of the car, talking to her and smiling as the driver started up the car. So they would begin a new life somewhere, god only knew where. Gabe sank to the floor and pulled his phone from his pocket. He wept silently and texted both Jo and Jake with two words. When finished, he looked at a family portrait sitting on his end table. It was of a picture they took last Christmas with them wrapped in Christmas lights. Bob was centered, the tallest, with his arms around Teddy and PJ's shoulders. Amy stood in front of him with Charlie and Gabe on either side of her.

In a fit of anger, he chucked his phone at the photo, causing it to fall onto the ground and shatter. The shatter point was above Amy's face. The glass cracked in various directions, like pieces of a puzzle. The cracks separated PJ from the rest of the family, separated Teddy and Charlie together from the rest, and then Gabe was split from the parents, who were completely covered with lines from the contact point. On the phone, which now lay beside the photo, were the words he'd texted to Jo and Jake.

"They're gone…"

* * *

Intense, and I needed it in Gabe's perspective. Well guys, what did you think of the chapter? Next is a time gap, so prepare and let me know what you thought of the chapter.


	11. Separated

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N: Now is the time skip, this is where we begin to try and repair what was broken.

* * *

Chapter 11 (Separated)

"Come on!" Sixteen year old Charlotte Duncan taunted her friend as she played _Galaxy of Death 6 Online_. Her blond curls bounced on her back as she laughed gleefully in the dark house. She continued on to type her teasing when she made her character duck behind a wall after blowing up her opponent from behind. "Are you getting upset about being beat by a girl, ?" That was her friend's penname, they'd met over the game about two or three years ago, so the teasing was just innocent.

"I don't understand!" He typed back. "I've been playing this game for years, my brother taught me all about it!"

"No dice, I've been playing all my life. It's in my blood. Literally!" She laughed again and ran her character around the wall. She crept behind a nearby rock behind the spawn point and aimed an arrow towards her friend. "Forgive me, I'm about to make a cheap shot."

"What do you mean?" Dark's character spawned and she immediately shot the arrow, killing the character. "Oh come on, are you seriously rubbing this in my face?" She had many more wins than him, but only because she knew how to be stealthy. This was one game she knew in and out. It wasn't like she didn't have a life, she did, but that didn't change things very much for her. These days it was either dancing, school, or video games. Sadly, dancing was the only thing she was any good at. "You know, one of these days I'm going to get you. Just watch, I will beat you."

"In your dreams." She laughed and moved her hands away from the keyboard. She looked at the clock and frowned, it was nearly one in the morning. Her mother finally was working as a waitress, but only because of the friends they'd found, but the restaurant had become one of those twenty-four hour things, and so Teddy worked the graveyard shift. She didn't come home until at least ten in the morning, and she slept most days. With a heavy sigh, she returned to the computer. "Hey, let's get on Skype, I'm done with this game for now."

"Aw come on! I was just about to get you!"

"That's what you said the last five or six times I killed you." She flipped off the game and went to Skype, waiting for her friend to get on. got on after about three minutes and called her so they didn't have to type. "Took you long enough."

"Sorry, geez, my computer's slow after playing that game. Anyway, won't your mother be upset with you being up so late? It's one over there, right?"

"Yeah." They were living in Chicago, Illinois now. Things really started changing for them when they got there, because it's where Teddy met her old friends, Rocky and Cece. They convinced their friend's uncle to hire her at _Crusty's_, which had become an even bigger franchised restaurant. Rocky was the new host of _Shake it Up, Chicago_, and had convinced Charlotte to get on the show and learn how to dance. After some time of mentoring, she got the hang of it. She also attended John Hughes High, and was incredibly grateful towards that school. This was one of the first times she was actually _happy_, along with her mother. "It doesn't really matter, I'll go to bed before she gets home."

"Didn't you say she used to be a stripper?"

"Uh huh, but that life's over now." They did a lot of moving. The first manager was the only _respectable _one. He was a kind older man with a lot of money and ability to help, when he died, a new manager came in that wanted to "test drive" all of the dancers. Teddy was _not_ into that, so she left. Throughout the years, until they settled in Chicago, every manager they came across was a piece of shit.

They made it to Chicago about four years ago. Rocky's older brother, Ty, decided to visit a strip club for the first and last time of his life, curious as to what it looked like. The boy was indeed terrified by what he saw, but he had been more shocked to see Teddy. When he saw her, he asked about whether she was part of the Duncan's that came around a few years ago, she confirmed it, and then he invited her to meet up again with Rocky and Cece at Crusty's. It was there they convinced Deuce's uncle to hire her on, seeing as how even Teddy was exhausted with the seedy lifestyle of a stripper.

Now, for the first time, it didn't feel like they were going to keep moving around constantly. Hell, Crusty's even paid better, and Uncle Frank hadn't regretted hiring a stripper as a waitress. Sure the pay wasn't perfect, but it was something. It was enough for the house they lived in, granted it was a tiny two bedroom apartment they had to rent out for about 300 a month. It was much better than those boxes and trailers they'd had to move to and from over the last thirteen years.

"Hey Dark, how'd you get your penname? I've always been curious about that." They never used the webcam, considering her mom didn't believe it was safe, nor did he have a webcam. They also didn't know each other's names, just their nicknames. She had two different pennames she used, one for the game , and one for everything else. She heard him chuckle and move around in his seat.

"It's just the lifestyle, that's all." She frowned and lifted her eyebrow, was his life really that bad? Then again, it was why they were friends, they had a bit of kinship in regards to their lives, both having had difficult times. She probably talked more about her troubles than he did his. "My dad died back in 2017, I think I mentioned. That was the same time my brother left for college to be with his girlfriend. He doesn't come around much, doesn't even live in the same city anymore. Mom's a lot like your mom, sleeps through the day and night, so why do you think I play this game all the time?"

"I see."

"What about your penname? The in game one? 'Inbredwarrior2009'" She laughed and closed her eyes. She used that name only for laughs. She knew about the incest and who her birth father was, though she'd never talked to him. She'd coped with it more than her mother had, and her mom would probably kill her if she knew she even used a penname for that. "Granted it makes your character sound like a badass."

"Exactly! Just think of all the anime shows and whatnot where purebreds or inbreeds are powerful! Granted I'm not that strong in real life, I've got a frail heart and everything."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, medical problems. You know I dance on that dance show, right?" He never got the show at his place, so he usually complained about not being able to see his friend on the show, but it couldn't be helped. "Well it's about as much exercise as I can do. I get winded really quickly, so I can't run very well, and I have to take medication to keep my heart from going so fast that it kills me. I almost died when I was younger."

"Damn, I'm sorry."

"It's fine! Doctors said I wouldn't live past the age of two, and here I am, sixteen years old and dancing on a show!" She laughed happily, always trying to be optimistic if possible. She didn't believe being depressed made anything better.

"That's good. Hey, you realize you didn't wish me happy birthday last week? I'm thirteen years old, a teenager now, and you didn't say anything. What was up with that?" She glanced to the side, chuckling sheepishly. That was the week her mom grounded her, she got into trouble quite a bit. Pity too, considering it was the middle of June, she should have been out enjoying the rays. She was unable to go on the annual trip to Lake Whitehead with Rocky's and Cece's families.

"Mom grounded me. You know Cece works as a police officer like her mom, right? Well I thought it would be funny to see what would happen if I used her handcuffs to cuff her to the kitchen table." She smiled with a gleam of pride, remembering how Cece had fallen asleep at the table while visiting the house and waiting for Teddy to get ready to go shopping. Unfortunately Cece was called in to work and wound up practically having the entire table fall on top of her. "It was a simple mistake, could have happened to _anyone_."

Dark laughed. "I'm not sure who I feel more for. You or Mrs. Hessenheffer." Cece married Gunther about three years ago, she was twenty five. Now twenty-eight, Cece and Rocky were only two years younger than Teddy, who was thirty. She was also pregnant with their first child, so Teddy and Rocky spent a lot of time with her, when Teddy wasn't sleeping through the day that is. Rocky was dating an old friend from her school, Howard. Teddy was the only one that was single, but she had her reasons for choosing to remain single. She didn't trust men all that much, and still harbored a grudging resentment to what Spencer did to her all those years ago.

"Hah-hah, well happy thirteenth. Did you get to see your brother?"

"Thanks! Nope! He's too busy with his wife and little daughter to come say hi to me." He mumbled and smacked something on his desk. From what Charlotte understood, his brother had a five year old girl named Jenny, born in 2020. "Oh well, mom and I went out to this nice restaurant and had some steaks. No loss there. I think she tries too hard sometimes, but eh, that's just me."

"Well like you said her only other kid ran off after college, and your dad died, so it makes sense she'd be a bit clingy to you. My mom's always protective of me for her various reasons too, so I know how that feels."

"What? Your mom afraid you'll walk out on her or something?"

"No, not really. Like I said, just a lot of medical problems…that, and I don't really know what half my relatives are doing these days."

"Man that sucks."

"I _know!_" She didn't know what PJ's life was like, she didn't know what Gabe was up to these days. She didn't know how Bob and Amy were doing, or even Grandma Petunia. "Mom refuses to talk about them or to even associate with any of them. Though I think if she could associate with dad, she_ might_, I'm not sure how she feels about him. It's kind of complicated…nothing worth going into."

"Right. I still can't believe you beat me at that game…it's not fair." She laughed and curled her lips into a wide smirk.

"Can do a rematch anytime, anywhere, you will still go down. I'm telling you, it's in my blood!" She pulled her head back for a second, letting out a soft sigh. She really only had one bloodline she could choose from, but oh well. "Anyway Dark, it's getting late and I'm getting tired. If I sleep until four or five again, Mom's going to know I've been up way too late…and Miss Blue won't be happy either."

"No?"

"She's kind of my dance teacher, and my boss at the same time. If you ever find a way to watch _Shake it Up_, you should! It's great!"

"Yeah, I'll look into it some time. It's been a blast, see you around."

"Bye." She hung up the call and leaned back in her chair, staring blankly at the computer. All the talk about family had managed to depress her a bit, so she definitely wanted to get to bed rather than sit and mull over things for much longer. She never resented Teddy for separating herself from everyone, because she knew it was what she had to do at the time, but still she would love to see them all again some time. Knowing her mother, though, there was absolutely no way in hell she'd want to get mixed up with them. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes, muttering to herself. "Wonder if I'll ever see my family…"

* * *

Hmm, so much time has passed through, so many things have happened. Let's see what will happen now, let me know your thoughts!


	12. Good Luck Shines Down

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 12 (Good Luck Shines Down)

"Charlotte Jane Duncan, wake up this instant!" Charlotte moaned and waved her hand through the air. She was lying on her bed face down above her covers, practically hanging off the side with her feet diagonal on the other side. "If you don't get up, you're going to be late for _Shake it Up_." Her eyes shot open and she quickly sat up on the bed, wiping away the drool clinging to her lip. She chuckled nervously and glanced up to her mom.

"Sorry mom…" Teddy had her hands to her hips and was tapping her foot on the floor, she was in full _Crusty's_ uniform still. Her hair was long as always, but not quite as full or golden as it used to be. It was more of a pale brown with amber highlights and dark brown tips. "What _time_ is it?" She stretched her arms out and let out a loud yawn. Did she know how late she was up last night? Hopefully not, but with her luck, the woman would know. She knew _everything_. Mothers were strange like that.

"It's one in the afternoon and your alarm has been going off for the last three hours. You stayed up late playing your games again, didn't you?"

"Ma-aybe." She smiled innocently and Teddy slowly shook her head, playing cute was not going to work this time. She had messed around the house for about an hour after getting off the computer, but she couldn't help it, she was bored and unable to sleep. It was about two thirty before she went to bed. Her mother always imposed a strict midnight rule. "One a scale of one to ten, how _in trouble_ would I be right now?" She flashed a toothy grin and Teddy's eyebrow arched up. The frown lines around her mouth were not going away and the stress marks on her forehead were deep. "You know, you look much more attractive when you smile, Momma."

"Thank you." Teddy remained frowning and started to clear her throat. "Now how late were you up, young lady?"

"Two thirty…I'm sorry mom." She bowed her head and sighed, she'd have to take the heat whether she wanted to or not. They had a policy to be honest with each other and communicate no matter what. She looked towards the brown end table beside her bed and grimaced at the three small pills beside the glass of water. Her medication required by the doctor to keep control of her heart, the doctor was trying to slowly bring her off of the meds as she was beginning to do well without them, but it was a long and grueling process. Right now she had to take these meds at exactly noon every Saturday and Wednesday. They tasted like crap. "I see you didn't forget the medicine."

"You have to take it for your heart, Charlie. I'm not letting you forget. Now, I told you to go to bed at _midnight_. That was the rule. _Especially_ on the nights before you have to take your medicine."

"Okay, okay…" She grabbed the water in one hand, then the pills in the other. It took her a while to get ready, and she had to be at the show at four. They rehearsed for two hours before the live performances. With it being a little after one, that left her two and a half hours to take a shower, get dressed, eat, and get over to the studio. She groaned and quickly downed her medicine.

"Do I need to start coming home earlier and making sure you're in bed?"

"No mom." She rolled her eyes and quickly hopped up, kissing her mom on the cheek and hugging her. "I love you. Glad you're home." It was almost routine, but she made sure to say that every day and every night for the last thirteen years, but only because it started out with them never knowing what tomorrow would bring.

Teddy sighed and hugged her back, kissing the top of her head. "I love you too honey." Charlotte smiled brightly and looked up while her mom brushed her bangs from her eyes. "You are so beautiful…but you're still not off the hook. We'll talk about you staying up late when you get home." She laughed and hurried off towards the bathroom. This was going to be interesting, rushing about like crazy. Hopefully she wouldn't be too late.

When she made it to the studio, she tried to sneak her way in. She was about five to ten minutes late and Rocky was already starting to talk to the dancers. She took over when Gary moved on about seven years ago, but the dynamic that he created was still strong as ever. Now as much as Charlotte loved Cece, it was Rocky that she looked up to the most. As hard as it was to decide which of the two girls she favored, she had to say, it was Rocky that helped her mom out of the hard place. Ty might have found her, but it was Rocky that pushed forward and convinced Uncle Frank to give her some work.

_Eleven-year old Charlotte coughed against the smoke filled air and the neon lights that blinded her. She should be used to this, she was used to it every single day. These strip clubs were how her mother had the money to afford apartments, no matter how shady or poor they were. This was how her mother could afford school for her, could afford food, and yet she couldn't understand why her mother wasn't able to find work elsewhere. Why did they have to move constantly and nobody would hire her mom? Why!_

_ She put her hands to the edge of the seat and peered over, watching her mother walking onto the stage after having her name announced. Teddy was never happy at these places, and her skin was always dry and irritated from the smoke. She didn't have a choice, and they moved constantly because the managers, or even the patrons, would try to get grabby with her._

_ Now here in Chicago, this place was a little better than the last city they were in, where the dancers were required to be _topless_. This was one of the rare times where Teddy had to bring Charlie to work, but it happened mainly due to the lack of time to find a babysitter. "Momma…"_

_ Teddy was wearing a lacy white bra and panties stuffed with cash, tears were in her eyes as she grabbed the pole and spun around it. Charlotte couldn't help but to watch, even though her mother told her specifically not to. She'd been watching all night, and even tonight the man that hired her had been hitting on her and smacking her butt. He was a very gross, greasy man that smoked a cigar. Charlotte hated him._

_ When she looked over to her right, there was a man about the same age of her mom standing in front of the doors, something was different about him than the rest of the patrons. He looked very nervous and very grossed out by everything around him. He had curly black hair and dark skin, with a familiar face that she wished she could recognize. Needless to say, he was now watching Teddy closely, as if trying to put a face with a name. _

_ After the dance, Teddy made her way to the corner booth where Charlotte was waiting and sat down. "Hey baby, mommy's done for now…I'm sorry…" Teddy leaned forward against the table and put her head onto her arms. Charlotte rubbed her back and frowned, her mom had always been strong and always tried not to cry, but why was tonight so different?_

_ "Mommy, why are you crying?"_

_ "Mommy's stressed baby."_

_ "Why? Is that mean man that was hitting on you doing something?" Teddy looked up at her and smiled warily, as if all hope was gone. She was tired of moving, and now it looked like they'd have to move again. Over the years they'd just kept traveling East from city to city, never able to find a place to stay for very long, and it was looking like Chicago would be no different. "I started making friends here mommy, do we have to move again?"_

_ "Maybe sweetie. That man is my boss and well…what he would like to do is something bad."_

_ "That sex stuff, mommy?" They'd had the sex talk many times in the last year, Teddy started telling her about it when she was nine or ten. She wanted her to be very clear about what it was and that it wasn't exactly bad, but there were very serious consequences. "But you say no, right?"_

_ "Of course, all the time baby. I'm just…I'm exhausted and-"_

_ "Hey, pardon me?" Someone asked. Teddy groaned and Charlotte looked up, it was the boy she saw earlier. _

_ "Sorry, no private dances, I'm done." The man quickly put his hands up defensively and chuckled, very nervously._

_ "No! I don't want that. I uh was just curious about these kind of places, that's all…besides, a friend of mine's getting married and I'm the best man." _

_ "Let me guess, one of the groomsmen tried to talk you into hiring a stripper?"_

_ "Something like that, but I don't think…that's not why I'm talking to _you_." Teddy sat up and crossed her arms. The man rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "Sorry. My name's Ty. I just, you look familiar, though I can't put my finger on it."_

_ "Well I haven't been here since about summer of '11, so unless we saw each other then, I doubt I know you."_

_ "Yeah…my sister would kill me if she knew I was here, but uh, you wouldn't happen to know Rocky Blue would you? Rocky Blue and Cece Jones?" _

_ "The names sound familiar. I remember Shake it Up, were you a part of that?"_

_ "Yeah! Rocky Blue's my sister, she's on that show, or was then, she hosts it now…really tall girl, curly brown hair, and an upbeat personality." Teddy tapped her chin and glanced off in thought. "I don't know, you remind me of this girl that visited back then…tried to replace the Duncan sisters and well, uh, couldn't dance." Teddy's eyes lit up with recognition and she laughed, one of the first full and hearty laughs that Charlotte heard in the longest time!_

_ "Oh my god, yes! That was me! Well, my mother was there too but..."_

_ "Yeah how is she?" Teddy bowed her head and lifted up her shoulders._

_ "Things change…um, is Rocky around? I don't suppose she'd be around _here_ obviously, but well…you know what I mean…"_

_ "She and Cece are down at Crusty's, if you'd like to see them whenever you get off. I, on the other hand, want to get the heck out of here!" Teddy laughed again and slowly rose up, signaling Charlotte to get up as well._

_ "Actually I'm done for the night."_

_ Meeting Rocky and Cece was like meeting old friends, well it was exactly that, but still the memories were great. Charlotte was happy to see her mom laughing at old times, cherishing such an age old memory. Rocky apparently didn't look much different at all, and neither did Cece, just a smidge taller but everything else was still the same. _

_ "I can't believe you're working at a strip club," Cece complained. "Why would you have to do that? I mean, I know you said you had some problems at home and Charlotte's actually your daughter, but still…"_

_ "No one wants to hire a stripper," Teddy remarked. There was a very deep sadness to her voice and she just couldn't hold back on her tears any longer. "It's very hard living this life, but it's all I have. No one wants to hire me for obvious reasons, and therefore, it's all I'll ever have…"_

_ Rocky scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I don't accept that! Back then you were a great and smart person, you should be doing something you really want to do in life! Are you saying you've not finished college?"_

_ "What are you two doing? And no, I never went to college…again, my lifestyle's a bit bad and I couldn't afford it…Hell, I think we're going to have to move again anyway, the boss is already starting to get curious." Cece narrowed her eyes and Rocky cleared her throat, interrupting the train of thought._

_ "I'm hosting Shake it Up, and Cece's followed her mom's footsteps and become a police officer." Rocky leaned forward and started to smirk. "I would scold my brother for even being curious about strip clubs, but I'm glad he walked in there when he did. Know why?"_

_ "Why?"_

_ "Because you're not going anywhere." Rocky smacked her hand on the table and looked over to an older man that was writing on a notepad at some host stand. "Hey! Frank!" The man looked up and spread his arms out._

_ "Just because Deuce is getting married, you're older and whatnot doesn't mean you don't have to call me 'Uncle' anymore you know! It could be a nice sentiment." _

_ "Whatever, come over here please." The man raised an eyebrow and started walking towards the group. "Now Deuce just quit, right?"_

_ "Yep. He bought out the old place with Dina, but that's fine, this is still a new franchise."_

_ "So you can use extra workers?"_

_ "Yep."_

_ "Hire my friend, she needs a job and a place to stay. Got it?" Teddy's eyes grew wide and Frank slowly glanced at her, a bit concerned. "She's had a hard life and needs to settle down, so can you hire her?"_

_ "I'll have to train her, but first…" He turned to Teddy and folded his arms over. "What are your credentials? Any prior work?" Teddy sighed and ran her hand through her hair._

_ "I'm uh…I'm a dancer…and I don't like the work." Frank paused and looked over to Rocky, but before he could say anything, the woman rose to her feet and put a hand to his shoulder. _

_ "Just remember Frank, I know some very important secrets in your family that I'm pretty sure you don't want getting out. For example, whatever happened to Dina's father's cute little pig a few years ago?" Rocky smirked as Frank's eyes grew quite large. "I do believe you advertised 'fresh baby ham' the very next day the pig went missing, correct?"_

_ "How did you…okay!" Frank turned quickly to Teddy and extended his hand, smiling brightly. "Let's get you trained, suited up, and then you're hired!"_

"Charlotte, you're late." She froze behind the curtain she'd been sneaking behind. Rocky had her back turned towards her and her hands were on her hips. She chuckled nervously and slowly stepped onto the stage as Rocky turned around. "What kept you?"

"I woke up way too late, went to bed way too late. But I'm awake and ready to go!"

Rocky laughed and shook her head. "All right." Sometimes Charlotte was unable to perform because she would miss some of her medication and her heart would start going really fast when she began doing some more advanced maneuvers. When this happened, she'd have to sit out, and she hated it. "At least you're not _too_ late, still plenty of time to rehearse for the live show tonight."

"Awesome. Hey Rocky? Can I say something real fast?"

"Yes dear?"

"Well I was just thinking…" She rubbed the back of her head and met the woman's kind gaze with a subtle, yet nervous smile. It was a bit awkward, but she hadn't really _thanked_ Rocky for everything that she and Cece had done for her and her mother in the last few years. "I was remembering how we met, and I'm glad your brother walked into that place that night, because I don't know where we'd be if he didn't." Rocky smiled at her and folded her arms across her chest.

"Well, I'm glad he did too."

"No I mean seriously, that night…and you helping Mom get that job as a waitress for Frank…it was the best thing that could ever have happened to us. I don't like to get emotional or anything, but…_thank you_." Rocky moved over to her and gave her a friendly hug, patting her on the back.

"That's what friends are for, Charlotte. I'd do it again too if I had to, wouldn't change a thing." Indeed, they were very lucky that night, and Cece even went in and helped pin a sexual harassment case on the club manager. Aside from Ivy, whom Teddy managed to finally get in touch with about four years ago, Rocky and Cece were the best friends that they could have asked for.

* * *

Well what did you think of the events that occured in the flashback? Quite shocking the life that they had to live, Rocky and Cece truly were their lifesavers, so to speak. Uncle Frank too. Guess curious Ty could be credited just as much as they could too, glad he didn't run out the door in fear and shock before noticing Teddy. **  
**


	13. Old Friends

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 13 (Old Friends)

"Girl when are you going to come back home?" Ivy asked, the same thing she'd been asking for the last four years. Teddy fidgeted and put crossed her legs over on the coffee table in front of her couch. She never wanted to go back to Denver and wasn't planning on it even now. She'd had this discussion with her old friend many times.

"This _is_ home now, Ivy. You know that." The two found each other after Teddy managed to work up the nerve to call her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Wentz were willing to hand over Ivy's phone number, considering the girl went on a downward spiral herself when Teddy left. They'd apologized for telling Teddy that Ivy couldn't be seen around her, and Teddy apologized to Ivy for leaving her behind the way she did. Unfortunately they still hadn't visited each other. "I'm never going back to Denver, Ivy. I'm sorry…there's too many memories there." It was unfortunate, really, the two still weren't as close as they used to be. Ivy didn't even know what Teddy had been up to _before_ they made contact again. She was afraid to tell her about that lifestyle.

"Wish you were here. Emmett says he's thinking of taking a trip over there to Chicago. We want to see you and Charlie! Plus, you remember Mason? Emmett's nephew that PJ and Emmett raced against Charlie when she took her first steps? He's living with us now and is the high school running back! I smell a rematch going on!" Teddy laughed and slowly shook her head, there was no way she'd make Charlie race against a running back.

"You know my daughter has a fragile heart, I wouldn't subject her to that. Oh, and she goes by Charlotte now, says it fits her better. She's still a tomboy at heart, though." Ivy chuckled. In the background, Teddy could hear someone running and grunting. "What's going on over there anyway?"

"Oh we're outside right now. Mason and Emmett are playing around with the football. It's been pretty quiet here in Denver for the last thirteen years…you never told me what you've been doing. Where did you go all those years ago? What did you do? We were best friends, shared everything, now it's like we're _strangers_…"

"I know Ivy, and I'm sorry, it's just…" She bit her lip and dropped her eyes towards her feet. Ivy wouldn't be proud to hear the life she'd lived. Even now, her life wasn't fantastic. Emmett was a recording artist and Ivy was a clothes designer. She, on the other hand, was just a waitress working at a pizza shop, making about twelve dollars an hour plus tips. Her house, or rather, apartment was a tiny two bedroom place with a tiny living room that was connected to the kitchen. It was like living in a box, but it was better than the crap she'd been living in before. "There's a lot of history, a lot of hurt and whatnot-"

"You're not the only one that's been hurting, Teddy. I think you're just too stubborn to realize it. Hell, I bet even a part of you still misses your mother." She scoffed and turned her eyes to the front door. Beside the door was the computer desk with Charlie's laptop. They didn't have wireless, so the best thing they could do was hook the computer up in the front room.

"I couldn't miss her if I tried." Maybe she did miss the woman a tiny bit, but not enough to return to Denver. Sure she missed PJ and Gabe, and that 'lust' for PJ had subsided over the years, but she was still deathly afraid of it resurfacing. Gabe, however, she felt for the most. She knew how hurt he was the day they left, and it broke her heart to see him so upset. "What about Gabe? I know we never talk about my family or anything that happened back then, but…how's he doing?"

"I don't know. When you dropped off the radar, so did he. Sort of. Amy wouldn't let any of us come around and Gabe just…withdrew. I think the only people he talked to after you left were Jo and his best friend Jake. He left Denver when he turned eighteen, went to college outside the city with Jo…I think they're married now, not sure. All I know is he's never come back around, blamed your parents for everything. The last I heard from Jo, he never once blamed you or PJ for leaving…not once…" The words struck her dead for a minute and she gazed silently at the wall. She definitely blamed herself for hurting him, even if it couldn't have been avoided. To think he never blamed them for running off, it shamed her.

"I see…" Every time she talked to Ivy she wanted to see her, to hug her. She often said Emmett kept up with PJ, but Teddy never asked about him. From their talks, it seemed like it wasn't very often that PJ and Emmett talked, but it sounded like he was doing well for himself. "You know, I've been thinking…if I was lucky enough like PJ to have someone like Skyler and her family…maybe things would be different. I mean, it had to take about nine or ten years before anything _good_ happened-"

"Rocky and Cece, right?" Ivy's voice fell flat, indicating her envy.

"Yes…I know I talk a lot about them. I'm sorry Ivy."

"No! No, no, it's okay. I just…I wonder how they became such good friends, you know?" She bit her lip and let her head fall back against the couch. Maybe it was time to let Ivy know about her past, but she was too scared. It was almost like having to tell her about the incest all over again, only this was worse.

She didn't know why it was so difficult. She never had sex with anyone, patrons or those greasy strip club managers. The very last manager tried to force himself on her when she quit, but Cece had been right around the corner, waiting to strike. There were so many things to tell Ivy, but over the phone didn't seem like a very good idea. "I think you'd hate me if I told you some of the shit I've put up with over the years, Ivy."

"Girl, you know I wouldn't. Not after all this time. I mean hell, if I can forgive you for running off and I can be there for you when you told me you and your brother had sex, then there's _nothing_ that you can't tell me."

"I know, but it's just…I-"

"You shut everything out. All the memories, everything in the past, you blocked it didn't you…" She responded with her silence, acknowledging Ivy with only a subtle nod of her head. It was true, from the moment she met up with Rocky and Cece, she shut everything in her past away. To talk, or even think about anything else would be like tearing open an old wound. "I can tell you're scared of something, hiding from something…you won't even tell me where your address is. I know you're in Chicago, but that's it."

"I'm not even in the white pages. My number's unlisted for obvious reasons. I'm not even sure I like the idea of Charlie having a computer, but I'm not going to be the controlling mother…she's free to do what she likes, as long as I know about it. That's fair, right?"

"Yeah it is…but you can't keep running from your past forever. Hell, it's the same shit Emmett tells PJ all the time. You can't keep running, you can't just ignore the past. It happened, everything happened, and it makes you who you are. You can choose to accept, learn and move, or you can choose the more painful path…"

"I don't know, it seems pretty painful just remembering everything. At least, I know it's giving me a headache. I will say this much…Charlie and I moved around a lot during the years. Just city to city, going East until we reached Chicago…would have kept moving had it not been for Rocky and Cece. They're lifesavers."

"Great! Now that's the kind of stuff I _like_ to hear. I was your best friend, I like hearing about your life. I like sharing, so why can't we do that?"

"Because, there are some things I'd rather you didn't know right now…and it's nothing against you, it's me. I'm not ready to talk about anything, I'm really not, and I don't honestly know when I'd be okay with it." She heard her friend sigh and smiled sadly, hoping maybe Ivy understood.

"I hear you Teddy, and I respect that. I just want you to know, whenever you feel ready to talk…I'm here. I'll listen, because that's what best friends do, we _listen_ and we don't judge."

"I appreciate that."

"Right. So how's Charlie? Has she made friends in Chicago?"

"I don't know…" She was a little worried, to be honest. Charlotte didn't do much socializing during the school year, and she spent most of her time on the computer. "I do know she had a bit of a crush on Cece's little brother, but he's five years older than she is, so obviously that wasn't going to work out." Ivy laughed and Teddy started to smile. It _did_ feel like old times, and those times were the ones she missed out on the most. "You know, I have dated a couple guys here and there. They never worked out, but…"

"Oh. Well, you'll find someone one day."

"I don't know, I kind of like it being just the two of us. Myself and Charlie. I know one day she'll find some guy and move on with her life, but I'm content being single." She didn't think she needed to date or settle down. Most of the men she dated thought she was going to put out for them because she worked as a stripper, but there was no way in hell she was doing that. "I've kind of lost hope in men, to be honest. Spencer was just an asshole, along with every guy I've dated up to this point. I'd consider becoming a lesbian, but I'm just not attracted to my own gender."

Ivy laughed. "Well that's good to know." Hell she'd seen enough of her own gender to know she wouldn't be attracted to them. "So I guess Charlie's the only one you have?"

"Yep. Us against the world, Ivy. It's been that way all these years. I feel like she'll have a good life now, an education that she needs, and maybe one day a family of her own. I think, regardless of what it took to get here, maybe I've done my job."

"I bet. I always thought you'd make a good mother." Ivy paused to sniffle, Teddy thought she'd started crying. "I have to go now, need to check on the store. We miss you, Teddy. I wanted you to know that."

"I know."

"Until next time, all right?"

"Until next time…" Once they hung up, she set the phone down and closed her eyes. All the emotions of the past often tried to shoot through her whenever she talked to Ivy. The flashbacks, the pain, the hurt. There was nothing for her back in Denver. She knew this well enough. She looked to the hallway where the bedrooms were, Charlotte's head was poking around. She smiled at her and sat up. "Hey…"

"You okay, Momma?" Charlotte stepped out and moved towards her.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" The girl moved onto the couch beside her and put her head to her shoulder. She smiled contently and moved her arm around her daughter. "Just talking to Ivy, it's been a while."

"Yeah…I was going to talk to my friend online, but I don't know…you want to watch a movie?"

"That would be great." She'd love nothing more than to have some time with Charlotte, especially since she had to go to work in a few hours. She lifted her hand and gave Charlotte a look as the girl hurried to the TV stand where the movies were. "Just remember, no staying up past midnight tonight."

"I know, Mom." Charlotte laughed happily and grabbed a movie from the side doors of the stand. It was one of the recently made action movies with a bunch of explosions. They all seemed to be the same to Teddy, but she didn't mind, she loved action films. "Let's watch this. It's got Ryan Drekkel in it." He was one of the most iconic action stars of the day, and a favorite of theirs.

"Put it in and let's watch."

"All right!"

* * *

Aw, what a sweet ending to an otherwise bittersweet chapter. What did you think? **  
**


	14. Desire to Fix the Broken

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 14 (Desire to Fix the Broken)

"On late again?" Darkworld typed in Skype. Charlotte chuckled nervously and glanced over her shoulders. It was indeed late, but who was she to complain? Her mom wouldn't know, hopefully. "Mom's griping for me to get off the computer and go to bed, but I'm always willing to chat with you. Anyway, you never told me where you came up with your main penname, rather than the game one." She looked back at the screen and lifted her eyebrows. Her usual username was _GuardianHeart09_ and had a very special meaning in her mind.

She put her fingers on the keys and began typing. "I've always loved my mom, and so I've always felt like I needed to be strong for her because of the lifestyle we had. So I protected her and she protected me."

"Cool. Wish I could say the same for my mom. She's always depressed. Half the time I don't think she gives a damn if I'm here or not." Her heart went out to her friend and she tried desperately to think of a response. She didn't know his mother all that well, so she didn't know the situation, but she knew well enough to know his mom probably _did_ care about him even if she didn't show it.

"Aw, you can't think that. I'm sure she cares about you. Besides, maybe you need to protect her, maybe she needs you. If I know one thing about moms, it's that they always love their children no matter what." She was unsure of how much of that she believed, considering her grandmother and great grandmother were kind of terrible to their own kids. Although, she did question how bad Amy had really been. "You know something I've been thinking about, Dark?"

"What? That you're overly optimistic?" She laughed at the words and shook her head. Being optimistic was often better than looking at the world as if everything was bad and disgraceful. No, what she'd been thinking about was one day finding her relatives. She wanted to find them all, from PJ to Gabe, and even Amy. She wanted to know how their lives were and what they were up to, she _wanted_ to try and bring everyone together. Though, she didn't know how possible it was, or if it was only wishful thinking.

"No Dark, I want to find my family. I want to find all my relatives, but I wouldn't know where to begin. I don't know if Grandma wants to see me…I'm not sure if my dad would want to see me either, to be honest. Then there's my mom's younger brother. Everyone's just kind of gone."

"Yeah. Didn't you say they lived somewhere here in Colorado? At least your grandma. I'm in Colorado, so what if I tried looking around for you? I bet I could look up her name in the phone books or something, I could find something out for you." She paused for a moment and grimaced at the thought. It wasn't that it was a bad thought, but she didn't really want to get him involved in something like this. It wasn't his place, and what if her grandmother, or other relatives didn't want to see her?

"I don't know, it's not something I think you should have to deal with. I mean, it's probably just a silly pipe dream."

"Aren't _you_ the one that's usually optimistic here? Why would you give up on something like that!"

"Well for one thing, mom would probably kill me. And besides, they're not your family. It wouldn't be right to ask you to get involved in something like that, and I'm sure your mom wouldn't want you to get involved either."

"I guess, but it isn't like I would have to get involved. I could easily look in a phone book and give you a set of phone numbers or something." She was considering it still, but at the same time, her uncertainty was great. She would _love_ nothing more than to find them all. Maybe she should give it a shot. Before she could type anything, she heard someone knocking on the door. She tensed and looked to the front door, hearing Cece's voice from the other side.

"Charlotte, your mom asked me to come check on you. I see your computer on in there."

"Damn. It's Cece, I have to go, Dark. Talk to you later." She signed off and hurried to the door. She opened it and chuckled nervously as Cece crossed her arms over and tapped her foot. "Hi Mrs. Hessenheffer, how are you?"

"Not happy. I was expecting to come here and find the lights off and you asleep. Your mom told me you might try to stay up…" She didn't want to get in trouble _again_, but they seriously needed to discuss this curfew thing. She just couldn't be expected to go to bed at midnight when it was summertime. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"_Please_ don't tell Mom that I'm still awake." She formed a hopeful smile, holding onto Cece's gaze with everything she had. "I'll go to bed, I was just having some trouble sleeping is all." Cece walked in and put her hands to her hips, smirking at her.

"You do remind me a bit of myself when I was your age, but still…a rule is a rule. I'll stay with you until you can get to sleep, but you have _got_ to go to bed. Your mom's only doing what's best for you, and getting a good amount of sleep is crucial to your health. You know that. You need a healthy balance of things in your life, and that includes sleep."

"I know…" She bowed her head and kicked her foot against the floor. There was no point in arguing, Cece was right. If her body was out of whack, it would _not_ be good for her. "Hey, how's Flynn doing, by the way? I heard he was dating some Texan girl."

"Bo? Yeah, she moved up here a couple months ago with her family. They met up again at Crusty's, having a pretty good time too." They moved to the couch and took their seats. Charlotte already knew about this, to be honest, since she was there. Bo had double braids and was a very pretty woman, Flynn was shocked when he realized who she was.

"Mom said they met when you and Rocky tried to go to LA. Is that right?"

"Oh yeah. We got into _so much_ trouble." Cece started laughing and Charlotte's eyebrows instantly rose. She knew Flynn and Bo were planning a trip somewhere, but she wasn't too sure where. Although, for some reason, she thought it was to New York. If so, she could probably find her dad up there. "I don't recommend you try repeating our mistakes though, your mom wouldn't be too happy and she'd probably send me after you."

"Yeah…I agree…aren't Bo and Flynn planning some sort of trip to New York?"

"Yep, it's really something for his college. Bo asked to tag along, and his friend Henry's going as well." Flynn had a big red SUV, which also meant ample space. She had absolutely no clue _where_ in New York she might find PJ, but she did know if she went along, she might find him. How hard could it be to find a PJ Duncan in New York? Cece raised an eyebrow and stared at her suspiciously, as though she were a suspect she was questioning. "Why so interested all of a sudden?"

"No reason…but I think I'm ready to head off to bed…"

"There is absolutely _no way_," Teddy declared the next afternoon. Charlotte brought up the thought of trying to get the family back together and hoped her mom might like the idea. She didn't realize her mom was so against seeing the rest of her family, though. Or at least, how against the idea she was. "I absolutely _forbid_ you from seeking any of them out."

"But Mom-"

"Don't 'but mom' me." Teddy put her foot down and started walking towards the kitchen. Charlotte followed after, slumping her shoulders in defeat. "I don't like having to say no to something you want to do, but this is over your head! Believe me! I'm sorry, but I'm not going to allow you to try and go off to New York with Flynn and Bo."

"But I've never seen him before! I want to know what Dad is like…I want to know what the family's like…" Teddy sighed heavily and grabbed a wooden spoon to stir the breakfast noodles on the stove. Charlotte stood behind her, pouting and trying to figure a solution to this problem.

"I'm sorry Charlotte. I can't allow this one, sweetheart. We left on bad terms, and everyone in the family was hurt…there's nothing that's going to make me allow this."

"It's not like _you're_ the one going though. What are you so afraid of?" She watched her mother stir the noodles, still waiting for an answer. After a minute, Teddy put the spoon on the counter beside the stove and leaned forward, shaking her head.

"I don't want you to get hurt, baby." She whined as Teddy slowly looked over to her. It was hard to imagine herself being unable to see her father, or any of the other relatives, and just when she might get a moment to do so, her mom says no. It hardly seemed fair! "Look, I love you and I don't want you to go finding PJ, or Gabe, or even Amy, and then having a door slammed in your face. From what I hear, PJ's doing okay for himself, so I don't think he'd be too interested in seeing either of us, to be honest…"

"You were his sister, and no matter what, you two _were _close. The whole incest thing aside, you were closer than close, you were siblings! Plus, you said yourself that he loved me when I was a baby, and Skyler was accepting, so…what's the problem?"

"The problem is, baby, this isn't something that you can just walk in and expect everything to be fixed in one night." She _knew_ this, and it wasn't an issue to her. She didn't expect to be able to fix everything, she just wanted to know her family. "I know you mean well, and I think it's noble for you to want to see them. I think you should be able to, but I really don't want you to be hurt." Teddy raised an eyebrow and turned around, glancing down at her with a concern-filled stare. "Besides, I don't think you going along with a couple college aged kids counts as adult supervision."

"Aw, but Flynn's responsible! Come on Mom, you have to let me go, _please_?"

"I'm sorry Charlotte. I know I'm probably not your favorite person right now, but I have to be a mom here. No is my final answer…you can't go…" Seeing how any attempt to convince her otherwise was futile, she let out a dull whine and started moving out of the kitchen. She wasn't too upset with her mom, she was only doing what she felt was right, but it just wasn't _fair._

"You worry too much, Mom…" She thought she'd be just fine. She didn't like to disobey her mom too much, but this was almost the only chance she had at any kind of communication with her dad. Sure he probably didn't want to be reminded about the incest, nor did she really want to reopen old wounds, but wasn't that just inevitable? She didn't think family should be separate, at least not for as long as this one had been. It was almost destiny for them to come back together, the family as a whole was meant to be a family. Wasn't there a phrase, 'you can't choose your family'? Well PJ, her mom, and Gabe all decided to 'choose' their families. Surely they felt an emptiness. _She_ felt one!

There was no question about it, she had to take this trip. Even though she might get grounded for life, it could only be for the best. Couldn't it? Although she didn't know how she'd convince Flynn to let her go along for the ride, but that just _couldn't_ be harder than convincing her mom. Could it?

* * *

Hmm, well what did you think. By the way, I repeat myself, always pay close attention whenever she's talking to her good friend. Pay close attention to everything, but especially the conversations in particular. Looks like Charlotte might attempt to do some fixing, yeah she is so grounded.


	15. Wrong Turn!

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 15 (Wrong Turn)

Even Flynn told her no, so she really wasn't sure what to do. Her mom was at work now, she had her luggage, and was on her way towards the bus station. Flynn's car was in the shop now, so they all agreed to just take the bus to New York. It wasn't a far walk at all, would be nice to have her own car though.

She felt bad about disobeying her mom, but it wouldn't be long. She'd just go meet PJ, and be on her way. Besides, Cece got into loads of trouble like this when she was young, so what was the worst that could happen? An image of her mom frantic and pissed off at the same time came to mind, though it looked more like Medusa turning someone into stone. Although, knowing her mother, whenever she got mad it looked like she was very capable of turning someone to stone. She was beginning to wonder if she should go, or if she should just stay there with her mom. She paused and glanced over her shoulder, she was already almost at the station.

"No…" If she did this, then she might never get to see her family. She loved her mom, but she also wanted her family. "I have to do this. I'm sorry momma…" Seriously though, what could go wrong? If PJ slammed the door in her face, fine. She could bounce back from that. It would hurt like hell, but she was strong. She was capable. "It's ten now…Mom won't get off until ten in the morning…by then I'll be there already. I hope." She was exhausted beyond belief, so chances were she'd manage to sleep the whole way.

Upon arrival at a bus station, her eyes were stabbed with headlights. Voices filled her head as bus drivers called out the destinations. "This bus to New York City!"

"This to Indianapolis!"

"Heading to Denver!"

"Going to Tallahassee!"

"Austin!"

She moaned and made a break for the bus. Once on, she didn't bother looking around for Flynn and the others, they were likely already there. She removed a pillow from her luggage and leaned back on the chair. She'd ridden buses before, so she wasn't too overly nervous, but at the same time there was a small pang of fear that she had in her chest. She closed her eyes and felt the bus begin to move, she was looking forward to just feeling the hum of the road. Finally, time to sleep.

The next thing she knew, sunlight was pouring into her eyes, forcing open her eyelids. She let out a loud yawn and stretched her arms out. "Are we here?" She asked, but to no one in particular. She noticed the bus was completely empty, so with a loud yelp, she grabbed her things and quickly hopped off. "Flynn? Bo? Henry?" She looked around frantically at the crowded station, unable to recognize anything around her.

It was now beginning to sink in that she was more than just alone, she was alone in unfamiliar territory. They must not have seen her on the bus and headed off without her. Now she'd seen pictures of the bus station in New York, this did not look like those photos.

No, this station had black walls, where New York's station had blue ones. This also had only a couple buses there, where the station in New York supposedly had many. She hoisted her backpack over her shoulder and started walking, figuring it was best that she not just stand there like an idiot. She knew well that bus stations were not that safe, and she was just a sixteen-year old girl with a very fragile heart. If anything, she would be an easy target for thugs. In her mind, she was beginning to question whether her mother had been right to tell her 'no'.

She quickly pushed that thought away. She steadied her heartbeat and slowly walked towards a ticket booth. There was an overweight man standing behind the booth with a pleasant smile on his face. "Hey sir, I slept through the whole ride…can you tell me where I'm at? I thought I was on the New York bus, but this isn't the station for that…"

"This is not New York, miss." The man kept his smile and handed her a pamphlet through the small space in the glass wall between the two of them. She carefully took the pamphlet and read the words, her jaw dropped and her eyes widened as fear rattled her body. She was not only far from home, she was in the one place her mother would _never_ have wanted her to go. _Denver, Colorado!_ "You arrived on the wrong bus, ma'am? Are your parents with you, or did you come as part of a group?"

"Um…" Her heart was beginning to race and a chill ran down her spine. What was in Denver now, anyway? Who was to say Amy wasn't long gone? In fact, she should probably go back home, but at the same time, she did think it'd be nice seeing Ivy. Yet, Ivy would tell her mom, and she'd be in a world of trouble. "I was with a group, but it's fine. Do you have a list of your next buses?"

"Right here…" He handed her another pamphlet. She took it and moved over to a bench, reading over it carefully. A sharp pain struck her chest when she read the date of the next bus out to Chicago, it wasn't coming for another three days! Now she _was_ terrified. She didn't have to worry about her mom being angry, oh no, she would definitely be angry. What she had to worry about _now_ was her mom freaking out. "Miss? Are you okay over there?" She quickly looked up and feigned a smile.

"I'm okay! Thank you!" The man studied her for a minute and went back to his work at the booth. She quickly got up and began walking down the street. There was an air of familiarity, but only because she'd seen Denver so many times in the videos Teddy made. Of course, Teddy never actually watched the videos, but she let her see them whenever she wanted. They were always exciting to watch, memories of happier days with the family.

One of the first buildings she passed was a library, which gave her an idea. She rushed in and removed her laptop from her pack, every library had free wireless these days. She opened up her laptop and turned it on. As she waited, she absently pat the side of her computer and glanced around the library. There were two girls nearby that were working on some sort of project, they were actually being a bit louder than what most libraries would allow. Of course, it appeared to be out of frustration.

The girl with red curls was flipping through the pages of a book and occasionally glancing at the inhaler beside her. Next to her was a tall blonde with short, chin length hair, typing furiously on her own laptop. "We have one more month to get this summer project done, and we're _still_ not finding anything? Seriously?"

"Relax…you know, you'd think your dad would have some answers."

Curious, Charlotte moved over to the table with her laptop. The girls looked up at her with arched brows. "Hi, I'm Charlotte. You can call me Charlie if you want, I couldn't help overhearing…what are you working on?"

"Summer project for school," the redhead stated with a smile. "I'm Regina, this is my friend Dee." Dee moved from the computer and waved, smiling politely. "I'm helping her with a summer project that the teacher wants done. It's a paper on the legal system." Dee moved her hands to her temples and sighed.

"Been working night and day, it's giving me a headache! My dad's the police chief, so he's too busy to help me." The girl turned her eyes to the side and slowly crossed her arms. "Of course, he did tell me that it would be too _easy_ to go that route, so I need to do the paper on my own." Charlotte laughed and slowly sat down in front of them.

"My mom's friend is a police officer, so I know a little about the legal system. Maybe I can help out?"

"I don't know, what grade are you in? Though…Regina here is about four years younger than I am, _so_…"

"Oh, I'm sixteen, I'll be going into the eleventh grade."

"Cool. Maybe you can help out then, but I really want to take a break here. Are you from around Denver?"

"Honestly…no…I was _born_ here, but I live in Chicago now." The girls lifted their eyebrows in surprise and she smiled nervously. "Got on the wrong bus. I was heading to New York where my dad lives, but I think I was too tired…I was about to get online and ask my friend for some help." As if on cue, she got a Skype message from . "Here he is now."

"Oh." Dee and Regina moved around behind her as she started typing. Dark seemed surprised she was online so early, as was she surprised he was on.

"Hey, what are you doing up so early?" She asked. "You're almost never online." His response came seconds later.

"Yeah, because I'm usually doing things with mom. She's actually not home. What about you? You're never up this early."

"Well…I have an issue. I was planning on going to New York to try and find my dad, but I took the wrong bus." Her phone was also dead and without any way to charge, so she wasn't able to call anybody. "I'm stuck in Denver, my phone's dead, and I'm at a library with two people I just met."

"Oh my god. What library? DPL?"

"Denver Public, yeah I think so. How'd you know?" Regina and Dee nodded their heads and her friend's response came shortly after.

"That's right down the street from my house."

"Oh! You should come by!" Though she knew it wasn't always the best idea to meet someone in person that you met online, this was just a kid. There wasn't anything wrong with that. "It'd be nice to actually talk to someone I know around here…"

"I guess I could. Mom's not around, so I can't really ask, but that's fine. Are you sure? It would be so awesome."

"Yep, you can meet the girl that keeps kicking your butt at Galaxy of Death online." She smirked as her friend laughed. After they said their goodbyes, she turned to the girls and smiled anxiously at them. "You wouldn't mind hanging around here would you?"

"Well yeah," Dee commented while putting her hands to her hips. "You just agreed to meet someone online, that's not very safe."

Regina was bouncing a bit and tapping Dee on the shoulder. Eventually Dee looked over at her with a mildly annoyed expression. "Oh it'll be okay! I recognize the penname, so I know him!" Charlotte's jaw dropped and Regina's lips widened into a grin. "It's only Toby, a boy in my class, we talk on Skype all the time. I have a huge crush on him."

"Oh _that_ was Toby?"

"Yep!"

"Well…okay then." Dee moved back to her original seat and shrugged her shoulders. Charlotte was amazed to hear this, and a bit confused as well. Her friend never really talked about any of his school friends, but then, he often seemed a bit more depressive than someone who would be sociable.

"So what's he like?" She asked. "He doesn't seem like the sociable type."

"He's not, really," Regina replied. She moved back to her original seat and folded her hands into her lap, sighing. "I'm always trying to get him to break out of whatever shell he's got himself in. He's definitely depressed, but how can you _not_ be with a family like his? I mean everyone has their own troubles, but he's got a lot of them. Lost his dad when he was only five, his brother went off to college at the same time, but stopped coming around after he graduated. So basically he lost his brother when he was nine. He had other siblings before, but never talks about them…I think they died before he was born. His mom's always depressed about it, says he got most of the information about his siblings from his brother, but that's about it."

"Wow that is sad…" She never knew he had other siblings, he never told her. Of course, if he'd told her they died before he was born, she would have probably felt even sorrier for him. Chances are, he didn't want her to pity him or anything. "Did he ever talk about how his dad died?"

"Suicide I think." Her heart clenched and she slowly bowed her head, this was truly horrible. It seemed his world really _was_ darker than she thought. He really needed a friend, but she could understand how he wouldn't have many friends when things looked as bleak as they did. "I really shouldn't be telling you this if he hasn't told you."

"He must trust you a lot to have told you all this."

"Well I am his only friend right about now, so…I guess I'm just someone to talk to."

"Yeah…" She looked out the window with a heavy heart. Toby had already signed off, so she couldn't say anything to him. Then again, she wasn't sure he would be happy to know that she knew anything about his life, so she figured against telling him. "I know how it feels to have such a rough life."

"True. To think, my life's nowhere near as bad."

"No?"

"Well it is, but I like to be optimistic. My dad's away too, sort of. He's more of a drunkard that won't pay child support for mom, and I have a bad case of asthma. Dee keeps trying to get me to be active, so I like to play tennis from time to time. I don't have to worry about my inhaler _too_ much, but when I get worked up, my asthma gets really bad."

"Ouch. Sorry to hear that. Mom always said dad was a drunkard, he probably still is." She glanced back out at the bike racks in time to see a thirteen year old boy hooking up a bike. He had shaggy blonde hair that covered the tops of his ears, and bangs that hung just centimeters above his eyes. He was wearing a black t-shirt and blue denim jeans. "Hey, is that him?" Regina glanced out and quickly stood up.

"It's Toby!" It was funny, Charlotte expected him to look much different than this. She almost expected someone with black hair, black clothes, chain links covering him, and piercings. This was truly a surprise. When Toby walked into the library, Regina ran up to him and hugged him, making him lose balance for a moment. "Toby!"

"Regina! You scared me!" He laughed lightly and smiled at her. "I'm meeting a friend here, a little nervous, so I'm glad you're here…I didn't see you online, so I wasn't able to ask if you'd come along with me."

"That's okay, I know who you're meeting!"

"You do?"

"She's over here. She got on the wrong bus." Toby's eyebrows rose as she led him over to the table. He smiled at Dee, then looked over to Charlotte. Charlotte waved at him, feeling oddly comfortable in his presence.

"Hey there, good to meet you in person," Charlotte said while rising up and holding out her hand for him to shake it. "You can call me Charlotte now."

"Okay!" He shook her hand and laughed. "So what's it like taking the wrong bus? Your mom's going to kill you when she finds out, isn't she?"

"Yeah probably, I didn't tell her where I was going." She rubbed the back of her neck as Toby raised an eyebrow. "I asked her if I could go to New York with Flynn, she said no, so I snuck off when she went off to work. My phone's dead and the next bus isn't for another three days."

"Yikes…"

Dee scratched her head and looked over to Regina. "I have to get back home, so Regina, you can hang with them for a while if you like."

"I'll do that!" She replied. Regina spun around and moved up to Toby and Charlotte. "My mom's at work, she works at the Reddi-Mart, district manager and has her own store. Since she's not home, maybe we can go to your place, Toby?' He looked over and nodded.

"Mom's not too happy with visitors when she's not home, but we can hang out in the basement for a while. I have a bunch of video games down there." Charlotte removed her cell phone and stared down at it with a frown.

"All right, I need to get my phone charged up anyway, so I guess that'll work." She was definitely grateful for the hospitality, as well as she was grateful to now know her online friend's real name. Denver didn't seem so scary to her anymore.

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Ooh, definite wrong turn! She's in _Denver_, but at least she's met up with her online friend, and two girls I'm wondering if any of you recognize ;). Cameos of course. Tell me your thoughts of this chapter.


	16. Mother's Loss

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

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Chapter 16 (Mother's Loss)

"You take care," Frank called out as Teddy waved him off. Another day of work completed, another dollar earned. She walked out to her car and smiled at the picture of her and Charlie hanging from her rearview mirror. She felt bad about telling her she couldn't run off to New York, but had it really been for her daughter's own benefit? She didn't want Charlotte getting hurt, but she didn't want to be hurt either. What if her own brother wanted absolutely nothing to do with her? It was a scary thought, but chances were he went on the same rule that she had, and that was, she had her life now and no reason to look back at her family that shunned her.

With a heavy breath, she started up the car. She'd taken an extra hour of overtime to help out a little more. Frank was considering making her a manager, so she wanted to show him that she had what it took. If she could become a manager, she'd be getting a huge increase in her salary, and Frank was even helping her out with college. Granted she started taking some courses a year ago at the Chicago Community College. She didn't know yet what she wanted to be, but found her strong suit was journalism.

Hell, a lot of the opportunities she had now had almost been a gift to her. Even the car had been given to her by Frank. It was a black Nissan convertible, and she had to admit it was the best car she'd ever owned. He gave it to her as she would need some more reliable transportation than what she did have, which at the time, was a four door broken down sedan that she bought off some shady person that walked into a strip club long ago. That car was now in a junkyard somewhere, perhaps the best fitting place for it.

When she made it to her apartment, the first thing on her mind was seeing her daughter. She didn't know what to say, assuming Charlotte was mad at her for being denied the chance to go to New York. Maybe one day, she could, but right now was just simply not the best time.

The house was quiet, so Charlotte might still be asleep. She carefully made her way to Charlotte's room and leaned against the doorway, smiling serenely at the bed. Charlotte seemed curled beneath her blanket, a peaceful sight.

"Charlotte baby, you're still asleep?" She whispered so not to wake her, though Charlotte _was_ a hard sleeper these days. Teddy carefully walked towards the bed and sat down on the edge. She clasped her hands in between her legs and bowed her head, letting her shoulders fall for just a moment. "I'm sorry about last night, sweetheart. I know how much it would mean for you to get to know PJ, and the others."

Her heart clenched in her chest and her stomach lurched, already the old feelings of depression and anxiety were striving to return to her. "As you know, there are some very bad things that happened in the weeks before we left, he left as well, and I worry how anyone would react if we just showed up. I shouldn't hold you back from seeing him, though…I've never had a problem with PJ. Just so you know, he was a good guy." Her memory of him had never been tainted, even when he left, and she had been able to slowly come to terms with the fact that he was only her brother. "I think you deserve to see him, regardless of whether or not _I'm_ afraid of what would happen. I only want to make sure you won't be hurt, sweetheart. I don't want you rushing into something and not being ready for what could happen…but you're a strong girl, I know you'd be able to better handle rejection than I would."

Teddy's eyes started to grow misty as she fondly recalled her brothers, they were probably the only family she'd want to see again. Charlotte may want t see them all, and that was a frightening thought. She couldn't deny the child that right because of her own fears. "I think you should see them and I'm not ready…you're growing up Charlie, you make me proud of you every day. I love you baby." She put her hand over to Charlotte, then paused, the lump in the bed was completely soft. Confused, she gripped the blanket and pulled it off to reveal lumps of crumpled up sheets. Panic struck her as she jumped up from the bed and started calling out for Charlotte.

She flew through the house, checking all the rooms and every place that her daughter might be. She was nowhere in the house! She put her hand to her chest and leapt out the front door, looking from side to side. Her chest was aching and her stomach burned with fear. Where was her baby? "Charlotte!" She grabbed her phone and frantically moved her finger across the numbers and putting the phone to her ear. The call went straight to voicemail. She whined and threw her hand to her forehead, pacing back and forth. "Charlotte Duncan, this is your mother. Where are you! Turn on your phone."

Within minutes, she had Rocky and Cece over trying to calm her down. Cece came over with her partner on the job, Detective Rick Daniels. She always liked when Cece brought her job partner with her, the man knew well what to do and was a constant calm presence when everyone else was freaking out. He was tall, had a handsomely chiseled face with deep brown eyes and short cut hair. He had broad shoulders and a very attractive build.

"Okay, let's try to rationalize what happened here," the man started while scanning the perimeter with his eyes. His deep voice soothed her for just a second, though she was still jumping off the walls trying to fathom where Charlotte could have gone. "Is there any reason she would have to run away?" She let out a gasp and fell back onto her couch. Cece and Rocky sat beside her and rubbed her back, trying to comfort her.

"No, she was always happy," Teddy replied. "The only thing I can think of is maybe she was upset over last night." Rick turned around, facing them, and lifted his eyebrows. She froze and remembered how adamant Charlotte had been over going on that trip with Flynn. Immediately, she became angry that Charlotte might have possibly gone against her wishes and snuck off! "We need to call Flynn!"

"Why Flynn?" Cece asked. "He's in New York now."

"Charlotte might be with them! She wanted to go to New York to meet PJ. I told her she couldn't go." She moaned and put her fingers to her temples, sighing in desperation. Cece nodded and pulled out her own phone.

"I'll give him a call right now. If she went with them, he should have called." Teddy watched anxiously as Cece dialed her brother. Once Flynn answered, Teddy yanked the phone from her and started speaking herself, trying in vain not to be too frantic.

"Flynn! Where is my daughter! Did she go there with you guys? Talk to me!"

"No, we told her she couldn't come with us," Flynn responded. "Is everything okay?"

"She's not home and I can't reach her! Do you know if she might have snuck on the bus or something?"

"It's possible…we haven't seen her at all. Want us to look around for her?"

If Charlotte _had_ gone to New York, it would mean she would find PJ if she looked hard enough. Teddy had been thinking over the years about how PJ and Skyler were doing, and though she never thought to ask Ivy and Emmet, she still was curious. "No Flynn…you guys do your thing." She was going to find her daughter, and maybe, maybe she'd look up PJ and Skyler. She hung up the phone and looked over to Cece. "We're going to New York, and when I find Charlotte, she is _so grounded!_"

Charlotte followed Regina and Toby through the very familiar home, she just couldn't put her finger on why it felt like she'd seen it before. Of course, she explained that off as it being a part of Denver, and nothing more. "So this is your place?" Toby nodded and led them down into the basement. She gripped the coarse brown rope above the maple steps and lifted her eyebrows at the strangely familiar basement. "Why does it look so familiar?"

"I don't know." He hummed and moved to the couch, the girls sat beside him. Charlotte studied the video game console and smiled. "This is where I spend most of my hours. Of course, with Mom usually sleeping the day away, it gets boring." He twisted around and propped his arm over the couch, pointing at a door. "That door leads to a bedroom. Mom says it's off limits, nobody is allowed to go in or touch anything."

"Why?"

"Not sure, but I choose not to get in trouble with my mom." Toby smirked teasingly at her and wagged his eyebrows. "You might benefit from that lesson."

"Hah, hah, very funny." She bowed her head and groaned. He was right, she would be in a lot of trouble with her mom after this. This was also the furthest and longest she'd been away from her mom, she missed her. "I probably should have thought it over, but I really wanted to see my dad. I haven't seen him since I was three. Mom said he walked out on the family, but it was because of all the fighting." Toby looked up at her and slowly shook his head.

"My dad...he killed himself, drank himself to death. Knew what he was doing, left a note for mom and me…it was right after my bro left to college and said he wasn't coming back. I guess Dad just decided to give up. Couldn't take losing another." Charlotte watched Regina hug him, she couldn't imagine quite how that must feel, but it came close. She didn't resent her father, not like Toby might resent his, but she did feel a little upset that he just gave up on his family. It wasn't that she thought he should have stuck around to be a father, she knew well that would be wrong considering who her mother was to him, but the fact was he never kept in touch. Sure there was a lot of tension left off, but from what she understood, the siblings at least cared for one another.

"I'm sorry to hear about your dad, Toby. You've never really talked about him." Toby shrugged and let his head fall back onto the couch.

"It's fine. It's hard enough being the only person trying to hold this house together." He lifted his head back up and looked towards the stairs. "Hear that?" She glanced up and frowned at the sound of footsteps. "Uh oh, I think mom's home!" He hurried from the couch and rushed upstairs with Regina. Charlotte remained downstairs, still thinking. She opted to let Toby and Regina handle the crisis, considering she didn't really have anywhere to go. She'd rather not be thrown out on her butt right about now.

She moved towards the door that Toby had pointed out, tapping her chin curiously. She did respect what he said and wouldn't do anything with it, but maybe if she took one tiny peek into the room. With a curious mind, she opened the door a crack, peering inside. Much to her astonishment, it looked remarkably similar to her mom's bedroom in the videos that she'd seen. Obviously it wasn't, since that would just be strange, but it did still give her that familiar scent.

Suddenly she heard a mature woman's voice at the basement door, in a panicked haste Charlotte ran into the bedroom to hide, forgetting about the rule. She dove beneath the bed and threw her arms over her head. To make matters worse, when she peered out, she saw purple heels entering the room

"Good, everything's still in place…" The mother's coarse voice was kept at a particularly soft tone, as if she didn't want to disturb anything. Charlotte cupped her hands over her mouth and closed her eyes as she felt a shift on the bed. "I didn't come in on Independence Day…feels like I should have, but what would it change? You're still not home…" Who was she talking to, and why? Did it matter much? "If only I had told you before how much I loved you. I know I was hard, but I never wanted my baby to leave me."

Was she referring to Toby's brother? Most likely, since he wasn't even there. The bed shifted once more and the woman began to sob. "Your little teddy bear is still here…the only one that ever hears me talk anymore, I feel so crazy. Maybe one day you'll understand what a mother goes through when she loses her baby. I should never have let you go. Never…I've kept the room nice all these years, waiting for my baby to come home. Just a dream…"

Part of her was hoping this mother would leave soon so she could get out, she did not want to imagine what the lady would do if she found someone she didn't recognize hiding in some bedroom. Much to her disdain, the woman curled up on the bed. She rolled her eyes and folded her arms on the ground, resting her chin upon them. There was no getting out of this room anytime soon.

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An interesting chapter no less, your thoughts?


	17. Peaceful Family Dynamic

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 17 (A Peaceful Family Dynamic)

PJ Duncan sped along the New York freeways in his black, four door Nissan Titan. His hand beat upon the steering wheel as he glanced out the open window. The wind was blowing his long, chin-length hair back and brushing his bangs across his black shades. Life was good for this father of three, and a fourth on the way. He'd gone through college and was now a full time band teacher that taught guitar lessons outside of school.

The thirteen years that passed had gone by without a hitch. He'd not heard from his family in all this time, but just like that great song he discovered in college; _Never Lookin' Back_ by Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band, he was not looking back at that life. He was leading a successful life now with his beautiful wife by his side, and the ever-loyal support of her parents. Skyler was a nurse now, and a damn good one at that. Her parents helped them tremendously with their education, so they went from doing less than average in high school to getting all A's, with some Bs, in college. What more could a man ask for than a beautiful family and such caring parent-in-laws?

Did he think about his past family? Sometimes he wondered about how Gabe was doing, he felt terrible once he hit that plane to New York, knowing his little brother had been calling out for him. He didn't think much about his mother or father, nor did he ever care to see them again. In his mind, it was those two that destroyed the family. Teddy he thought about on occasion, she had still been his sister, and he did care about her. In the last four years, he'd talked to Emmett about how she and Charlotte were holding up, but the two were never told how things had been going for her. Of course, he thought about Charlotte all the time. She was still his daughter, whether or not he acknowledged it, and his three children often inquired about her.

His eldest son, Tyler, was a musical prodigy making him proud every day. He was ten years old and knew the chords to many classic songs. Although his heart was in athletic skills, he grew up playing the little leagues baseball, and was hoping to go into the big time one day.

His daughter Lucy, only seven years old, was always asking PJ and Skyler to play with her when it came to her Barbie Dolls and other toys. Many times, she wound up dragging Tyler into the games, whether or not he _wanted _to. Those two were practically inseparable.

Then there was his youngest child. Zachary would be turning four in September. He enjoyed playing with his older siblings outside in the backyard, or running through the house. Many times Tyler and Lucy would get him into some sort of trouble, but all he had to do was smile and melt his mother's heart. If he tried to take a cookie from the cookie jar on the counter, or if he started coloring on the walls, Skyler found it difficult to punish him when he gave her that sad look of his. This was moments before saying Tyler or Lucy made him do it, which almost never worked, unless they actually were the culprits.

He turned his eyes towards the picture on the front of the dash and smiled, it was of his family. He stood beside Skyler, arm around her shoulders, and she was holding onto the young freckled toddler that was laughing at the camera. In front of him was Tyler, grinning widely at the camera. He looked just like PJ when he was younger and had short cut blonde hair. Lucy was crouching next to him, holding onto a flower and gazing with intensity at it as her blonde curls framed her round face. Zach was the only one born with his mother's hair color, but both Tyler and Lucy were beginning to develop some darker hair.

After a few minutes, he'd arrived home after a long day of work. He had three students back-to-back that were in for guitar lessons. He was more than happy to get back home. As he pulled into his long driveway and parked next to the family's cherry red SUV, he marveled at his home. It was a tall, two story, white wood home with a slate shingled rooftop. The front door was a beautifully crafted maple oak with a patterned oval window on the upper half.

He stepped out and clicked the button on his car keys, smiling proudly as his car chirped to confirm locking. He truly had the dream now, a beautiful suburban home with a wonderful family and great income. He did not have to worry about getting his kids through college. "Beautiful day out." The sky was blue and the birds were chirping, a perfect indicator that he could go throw the ball around out back with Tyler if the boy wanted. Usually Lucy would want to join in, but most times she wound up playing with her dolls while watching.

When he made his way into the home, the first thing to greet him was the happily barking shaggy haired pup, Zip. He was a medium sized, long haired dog that enjoyed tackling everything, including his latest victim.

PJ fell to the ground laughing as Zip licked his face, he put his hands up and pushed his fingers into his dog's hair. "Okay boy! That's enough!"

"Dad's home!" Lucy exclaimed from the kitchen. PJ looked up to see Tyler and Lucy rushing towards him. "Dog-pile!" His eyes widened for a second as the two jumped onto him, immediately throwing the air out of him. He let out a grunt as his children squeezed him tight.

Skyler walked out, holding onto Zachary and gazing at him with serene eyes. "Okay children, careful with your dad, you know he's got a bad back." The kids hopped off him and he slowly rose to his feet. He'd thrown his back out some time ago when he was doing some heavy lifting. It wasn't so bad, but there were occasions where some pain could flare up. Skyler moved over to him and kissed his cheek. "How'd the lessons go?"

"Exhausting. I shouldn't put my students back to back like that. I need a break some time." He looked to Zachary and smiled as his son reached out for him. PJ took Zach into his arms and smiled.

"I love you daddy!" Zachary chimed.

"I love you too. Have you been staying out of trouble?"

"Yes Daddy." Zach grinned brightly, which made PJ a tad suspicious. Skyler tapped her lip and shook her head while Tyler ratted out his little brother.

"Zach was drawing on the walls, Dad!" The toddler shot a glare at his brother. Tyler moved over to PJ with a bit of a bounce in his step. "Dad, can we go throw the football around?"

"Sure son." With a grunt, PJ set Zachary on the floor and moved his hands to his waist. "Just let me check the wall you're talking about…"

"Right this way dear," Skyler led him into the music room where the piano and guitar were located towards the center. Beside the karaoke machine on the far left wall were large blue scribbles all across the wall. He groaned and scratched the back of his head, mildly irritated with what he was seeing. "It'll come off with a little soap and water, so I'm taking care of that. Go spend time with Tyler." Skyler smiled at her daughter and put her hand to her shoulder. "Lucy, would you mind helping mommy out with this?"

"Okay mommy!" The young girl was always eager to help. "I'll grab the bucket and sponges!" She bounced out of the room while Skyler watched on with a cheerful expression. PJ stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, gently kissing the back of her neck. She craned her head back and flicked her eyes towards him.

"She's such an angel, PJ. All of them are."

"Every one of them went through their rambunctious years, looks like the fourth won't be any different, Sweetie." Skyler put her hand to her prominent belly and gazed down with a smile. "Any thoughts on the fifth?" He smirked playfully and she quickly spun around, bringing her finger up to his lips.

"Four will be plenty." He laughed and kissed her warm, tender lips. She pulled back and sighed contentedly. "I don't know what it is about you Duncan men, but if I wind up having a fifth, or _sixth_ child, we're going to have a little talk with your doctor." PJ winced at the thought. Tyler called out from the backyard and Skyler moved towards the wall. "You better go, I've already talked to Zach about writing on the walls."

"Okay." He began moving towards the back door, smiling fully. Skyler had always been his biggest supporter. Even today, whenever he saw her his heart jumped, and whenever she smiled at him, he felt as though he were dancing upon the air. He was lucky to have her, especially considering how much love she had for him.

When he left his family, it had been so hard during that first year for him to separate himself from them and from the infatuation that resided in the back of his mind in regards towards his sister. It was all over now, and that was what was important. There was no way he was looking back, because if he did, he was terrified about the ghosts of his past ruining the dynamic of his family. Screw that the dynamic of his entire side of the family was destroyed. Though, he couldn't help but to feel broken-hearted when his children asked him about his family.

The backyard was an extremely large and open yard with a wide pool off to the left. Once he made it outside, he was shocked to see a football flying towards him. Thinking fast, he lifted his hands up and grabbed the ball before it hit him. "Nice try, son." He smirked at Tyler, who was standing several feet from him, grinning bright. "Now catch."

"Okay." He tossed the ball and watched as Tyler ran for it. The boy laughed and sailed through the air. He caught the ball, nearly dropping it, then turned to his father with the ball raised in the air. "Got it!"

"Impressive catch, Tyler! Now throw it from there!"

The game went on for about half an hour until the two decided to take a break. They moved onto the back patio, which was a balcony overlooking the yard. It had a long stone table in the center. They both had some water bottles in their hands. "Dad, can I ask you something?"

"Anything you like, son."

"Why do you never talk about your family?" His heart sank in that instant and his eyes shot over to Tyler as he slowly began to fill with despair. He could feel his past memories clawing back at his brain and he was beginning to fight them. "I mean, I know Grandma, Grandpa, Mom's Uncle Douglas, but…why don't we know your family? What were they like? You always avoid talking about them."

"I know son…"

"The only thing we know is what you told us…." They did know he had another child, and perhaps it wasn't fair to them that they never met the child before. They knew it was with his sister, but that was about it. They knew sex with siblings was _wrong_, they were also educated about what that was. Lucy was the most recently educated, they started informing their children about it when they grew close to eight. "Are you ashamed of them? Do you think we wouldn't love you if we knew them, Dad?" He frowned and met his son's somber and concerned gaze. Tyler's eyes seemed to burn into his soul.

"No son…" To a point, he knew the boy was right. Tyler was, oddly, smarter than most children. Tyler had skipped a grade in school, he was entering junior high much sooner than his friends would be. PJ never quite understood how this was possible, but he was proud nonetheless. "I know you wouldn't love me any less, it isn't anything to do with you at all. I'm only-"

"Afraid?" PJ chuckled and rubbed Tyler's head. He didn't want to admit it, but Tyler hit the nail on the head with that one. Maybe it was fear, maybe it was pride, but whatever the case was, he avoided the demons of his past like the plague. "I know something bad happened back then, but that was then wasn't it? This is now. I know you said I have an older sister, so…what if I wanted to meet her? What if Lucy wanted to meet her?"

"I don't even know where Teddy _is_ these days, Tyler." Tyler's face fell and he began to feel the rush of guilt. The doorbell rang and the two started back inside the home. As they moved for the front door, Skyler was already opening it. "Charlie would be with her, so there's no telling-" His voice caught in his throat as his eyes fell onto the doorway. There in plain sight was the familiar face of the sister he thought he'd never seen again. She was standing in between a woman with red curls and a tall man in police clothing. Instantly fear spiked through his veins. Tyler looked on with intrigue while Zach and Lucy poked their heads from another room. "T-Teddy?"

How had she found him? Wasn't he unlisted? Then again, police could easily find people. What was she doing here? "So. You go by Peter now, or PJ?" Teddy put her hands to her waist. He flinched and moved his hand towards his head as the memories of the past started rushing back to his mind. "Apparently that's what's on the city information."

"Family calls me PJ, everyone else it's either Peter or Mr. Duncan…what are you doing here?"

"It's Charlotte! She's missing. I think she came here." Now he wanted to panic. Charlie had come searching for him? He looked over to Skyler, who was just as baffled by this. She informed Teddy that they'd not seen Charlie, nor had they heard anything about her coming up.

Instantly, he wanted to pass out. This was _not_ what he needed right now.

* * *

Well PJ's been doing well for himself. Has a great family, happy, _and__ bang_, Teddy shows up.


	18. Welcome Back

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 18 (Welcome Back)

Teddy peered into the door of PJ's fancy home, struggling not to gawk. She never fathomed that he could do so well for himself, yet here she was with a miserable as hell life. She was trying not to be envious of him, despite the immaculate wealth he appeared to have. "PJ…how did you become so-" She shook her head and met his curious gaze. His eyebrow was arched up he appeared to be fighting an urge to vomit. Somehow, his expression was calm, despite being white as a sheet. His arms were folded across his chest and his lips formed a thin line across his face. If she were younger, she'd make a joke about how he looked like one of those Canadians on South Park, but it wasn't appropriate here. "Um, so introduce me to your family?"

"Sure…" He jerked a thumb to Skyler and gave her a smartass smirk. "This is my wife, Skyler. Skyler, this is my sister, Teddy."

"I _know_ who _she_ is, PJ!" She wasn't snapping, more she was annoyed than anything else. She wanted to know about his children. She could see his eldest son and daughter looking in from another room, then Skyler had a toddler with her. "Are you going to invite me in?" She wasn't as thrilled to be there either, but what choice did she have? PJ took a deep breath and extended his hand into the house. Teddy graciously entered. She wouldn't deny she _was_ happy to see him after all these years, but still the memories were already returning. She had to fight some of those memories back. A wrinkle formed at the top of her nose and a frustrated sigh left her lips. PJ looked over his shoulders and frowned.

"You want something to drink? Skyler made a fresh pot of coffee. There's also some Gatorade and water in the fridge. No soda." She raised an eyebrow and moved to the couch. When she sat down, she instantly wanted to fall asleep, the couch was too damn soft! As she felt the texture, her heart skipped a beat, the couch was _silk!_ "We don't let our kids drink soda, too much caffeine. Certain root beer is a fine substitute."

"Yeah, but only one a day!" The son chimed as he walked into the room, guiding his timid sister by hand. Teddy smiled at the kids and leaned forward, holding her hands together between her knees. "I'm Tyler, this is my sister Lucy." Lucy smiled shyly and slowly hid behind her brother. "Come on Lucy, this is our Aunt."

"Our Aunt, brother?"

"Yeah, Aunt Teddy…" Lucy poked her head out from behind him and stared at Teddy for a moment, then retreated back. Tyler smiled and pointed over to the toddler. "That's our youngest brother, Zachary. "Momma's going to have a baby in December, a little baby girl, and the family decided to name the baby Quinn." Teddy put a hand to her chest and felt a tear come to her eye, she couldn't help but to be happy for PJ. Sure she was a tad envious of his life compared to hers, but she would never have wished her hellish life on him.

"Aw, PJ, you have such a great home and a great family." PJ chuckled softly and leaned against the wall as Skyler moved for the kitchen. She looked back at Teddy, asking about the drink. She'd forgotten the question initially. "Actually I'll just have some tea if you have some?"

"Sure thing!" Skyler remarked while setting her son down. "It really is good to see you again, Teddy. Don't let PJ scare you into thinking otherwise, he's happy too." PJ rolled his eyes and smiled as Teddy shot a look his way.

"So…" PJ pushed himself from the wall and looked over at the police officers now standing behind the couch. "Friends of yours, or necessary to find me?"

"Both, actually." She twisted to face them and pointed at Cece. "She's one of my best friends, Cece Hessenheffer, and that's her partner on the job, Rick." He was a stud, she'd admit, but she would still be the first to try and shake such thoughts. "I uh, I live in Chicago now. Charlotte's on _Shake it Up_, and I'm a waitress." Turning back to her brother, she felt her heart sink just a little. "Not as successful as you, apparently…"

"Oh?" He laughed once and waved his hand in the air. "No, I just try to save all my money. I'm a band teacher for the local high school, still trying to get my Doctorate so that I can be a college professor. I also teach guitar lessons on the side. Skyler is actually a physician's assistant. She's trying to become a full fledged doctor." How was this supposed to make her feel any better about where her life just went? PJ's warm smile soothed her for a moment, just enough that she didn't feel overwhelmed. "I don't want you to feel intimidated…"

"I'm not." She crossed her arms and looked off to a china stand with various priceless plates and vases. She clicked her jaw and slowly lowered her arms, tapping her fingers gently on the couch cushion. After a second, she began sliding her fingers along the silky smooth texture, moaning to herself. PJ folded his arms, studying her and smirking. "What are you looking at? I told you, I'm not bothered at all."

"Right, well…We have about one thousand channels on our cable box." She whined and smacked her hand on the cushion.

"Stop taunting me, PJ!" Well, she could at least say it felt like old times with him teasing the living hell out of her. He put his hand to his chest and cleared his throat.

"_Me_? Taunt you? After thirteen years of never doing just that? You must be absurd." She shot him a glare and muttered to herself.

"Hah, hah…" It seemed the bond they once shared was still present for the most part, she was surprised by how comfortable she could be with him. Maybe reuniting with PJ was less painful than she first assumed it to be. She bowed her head, gazing aimlessly at the floor. "Believe it or not, PJ…I missed you. It's kind of hard to lose your brother and just…never see him again."

"I know sis, I missed you too. I'll admit to it." Her heart started to swell and she quickly moved over, hugging him. The feeling that went through her when she hugged him was enormous, like a gigantic rift just shut tight, a crack in the picture gone. "You only caught me by surprise, you know…"

"I know, should have called but, with Charlotte missing…I wish I knew where she was…" Skyler returned with a white mug filled with tea. Teddy thanked her and took the cup, instantly bringing it to her lips and letting the warm liquid soothe her chapped and dry mouth. With a heavy sigh, she lowered the cup and swallowed the tea, there was a perfect mix of honey and mint, and of course, instantly she was in love with the tea. Though, it could never truly sooth all her troubles. "If Charlotte didn't make it here to New York…" She was beginning to fear the worst, and trying with all her might to turn those dark thoughts around. "Maybe she got on the wrong bus? That couldn't be right, she's always had a keen sense of direction."

PJ pat her shoulder and glanced back at his family. Skyler was giving him an affirmative nod, though it seemed more like an order than anything. She was standing with her hands on Tyler's shoulders, Tyler held onto Lucy's hand, and Zach was sitting in front of the two. "Well." He took a deep breath, as though swallowing his own pride. "We'll find her Teddy…"

"You'd actually help me look for her?"

"I'd do whatever I can, she is my kid too…" Did he really just say that out loud? She raised an eyebrow and looked past him towards his family. PJ only closed his eyes and moved his hands behind his back. "They know. Tyler's actually a very smart kid for his age, skipped a grade already. We think he'll be in college by the time he's fifteen." Her eyes widened and Tyler instantly lifted a hand.

"I'm going for thirteen, actually!" Skyler and PJ laughed, which only earned them a quick glare from their son. Teddy was not going to question the logic, especially since it confused the living hell out of her as it was. How PJ was going for his doctorate, how Skyler was studying to be a doctor, and how Tyler was a kid genius, she just didn't know. "Grandma and Grandpa always helped Mom and Dad with their studies, and I like to study." She raised her eyebrows and glanced over to PJ.

"Your son obviously didn't get his smarts from anyone on your side of the family, PJ." He rolled his eyes and smiled. She smiled back at the glimmer of pride that filled his eyes. It almost made her feel guilty for even being there, for being a 'blemish' upon his picture perfect family. She wanted to leave, but chances were, leaving was not an option. In her mind, she could just see that crack returning between the two of them. "I'm sorry for showing up unexpected, I know after all these years, it has to be hard to deal with."

"No, I don't particularly mind." Her heart skipped a beat. Teddy watched him walk over to Skyler and put his arm around her shoulder. "You wouldn't believe how often Skyler and my son gripe at me for abandoning everyone back then. Still won't ever go back to Denver, don't plan on talking to Mom or Dad ever again, but you're my sister, and Charlotte _is_ my daughter…" He slowly looked to his children, chuckling in vain. "Though it might be better for the kids to say she's their cousin."

"Makes sense if you ask me."

"Yeah…but Teddy, welcome back to the family, if you still want to be my little sister, of course…" She gasped delightedly as he smiled at her. Was he truly accepting her back into the family? Did he not consider her a blemish? Did he not think that people would ridicule him if word got out about her, and about Charlotte? No, it was so long ago, and it wasn't like he was going into politics. Besides, who had to know? "Once siblings, always siblings. I _should_ teach that quality to my kids." Tyler smirked at his father.

Teddy started to step forward, hesitating for only a moment. "Can…Can things really be repaired between us? After all these years…would you really consider me your family, and not a _blemish_?"

"You're my sister, Teddy, and I accept that. I'll always love my sister, no matter what." Clearly after all these years he'd been able to distinguish between his sister and his wife, so perhaps he was more mentally stable than she was at this point, but what did it matter?

"You too brother…" In what seemed to be an illusion, she found herself meeting PJ and his family with a warm family hug. The crack was definitely gone, but surely it was far from fully repaired.

* * *

Well this was a nice chapter I think, what are your thoughts?


	19. Her First Friends

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 19 (Her First Friends)

Charlotte carefully pulled herself from under the bed, slowly looking up to make sure Toby's mother was still asleep. The woman's back was turned to her and she was sobbing, albeit quietly. She took a deep breath and slowly tiptoed to the door. Once she opened it and slipped out, carefully shutting it, she was instantly shocked by actual _sounds_. "Charlotte! What were you doing in there?" Toby exclaimed. She spun around nervously and smiled at both Toby and Regina. She was surprised Regina was still here, especially when Toby had to deal with his mother in regards to the girl being there in the first place. "I said that room is _off limits_."

"Sorry. Your mom started coming down here and I had nowhere to hide. I ran in there on instinct…and then she came in." He paused for a minute and looked at the door, sighing hopelessly. "She's asleep, I think." Charlotte stepped to the side and watched him open the door and peer inside at his mother. He shook his head and withdrew from the room. "Sorry again, I just didn't know where to hide."

"Yeah, it's fine. Besides…Mom's going to be asleep for a while now. Once she's out, she's out like a light." He tilted his head back for a moment and lifted his shoulders. "I'm meeting a friend of mine out at the park, you're free to join me." It wasn't like she had anything better to do, so of course, she would take his invitation. "His name's Mason, he's a couple years older than I am…about your age, actually. Mom doesn't care about me hanging around him, but she doesn't like his parents very well for some reason."

"That's not good…" She looked over her shoulder, still feeling a strange connection to the mother. She felt like she wanted to go in there and comfort her, to hug her and try to make her feel better. She knew it had to be hard, losing her oldest son, and being afraid the youngest would run off as well. With as much as Toby seemed to leave the house, it was no wonder she was so terrified. "I guess I'm up for the park. I'm a little nervous being here with your mom."

"Yeah, she doesn't like me to have friends over when she's not home, but _especially_ not girls. If she saw you or Regina here by yourselves, I think she'd freak out more than ever."

"Is she that worried?"

"Well not as much as maybe she was a long time ago, but any mom's going to be concerned when it comes to their children being with someone of the opposite sex _alone_." He motioned for her to follow and guided the girls up the steps. "Mom sent me through sex education saying she wasn't going to make the same mistakes, but she's still concerned about all the other stuff. Makes sense too…all things considered…" He bowed his head and closed his hands. She felt a pit growing in her stomach and watched with a growing sadness as Regina put her arm around his shoulders.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing…some things I don't really want to mention." He looked at her apologetically and she lifted up a gentle hand, brushing it off casually.

"I understand." Toby smiled vaguely and looked over at her, studying her for what seemed to be a careful minute. He slowly shook his head and looked towards a photo on the end table. "Something up?"

"Nah, it's nothing."

At the park, Charlotte was astonished by the handsome looking football running back that was waiting for them. He had big, strong arms, and a firm looking chest. His jaw was tight and his eyes were sharp and beady. "Is-Is that Mason?" Toby chuckled and Regina lightly tapped the bottom of her jaw.

"Careful Charlotte, you're drooling."

"Oh! Right! Sorry…" She shut her mouth and wiped it with her finger. She had to remember nothing could happen, but that didn't mean she couldn't dream of that man's chocolate arms embracing her, and her playfully running her hand through his short black curls. "So that _is_ Mason…"

"_Yes_, it is Mason." Regina laughed heartily and put her hands to her hips. "A little Denver crush for you?" She moaned dreamily and stumbled one step, quickly throwing her hands out to the side and shaking her head.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen. Besides, it can't. For one thing, I live in Chicago. Mom wouldn't approve!" She would never want to undermine her mother so much like that. This was really the one time she seriously undermined her mother's authority this badly, and she did feel guilty about it, but the deed had already been done. "I _know_ I screwed up by coming her alone, but…"

"Well, you wanted to see family, so that's understandable. Unfortunately taking the wrong bus…not always helpful…"

"I _know_ that." She was beginning to feel homesick, and she really missed her mom. As Regina ran up to Mason and Toby, she stayed behind and started rubbing her arm. "Momma…I'm sorry I didn't listen…" If she had stayed home, they'd be doing something, hopefully anything, but now she was miles away from her mother. She'd never been farther than her _school_, much less out of her mom's sight. She began muttering to herself. "Stupid, stupid, stupid…"

"Hey, Charlotte! Are you coming over here?" Toby called out. She lifted her head and quickly hurried over. She met Mason's eyes and brushed her hand through her hair, chuckling nervously. "Anyway Mason, this is Charlotte. Charlotte, this is Mason."

"Um, hi Mason…" She waved and tried to muster the best smile she could. He smiled right back at her.

"Hey. You up for a game of football with us? It's guys against girls." This could be fun, but she wasn't confident in regards to her heart. Toby looked her way and tilted his head, he seemed concerned about something.

"Hold on. Charlotte, would you be able to? I know your heart isn't in the best shape."

"I think it'll be fine." If anything happened, the hospital could call her mom. Then again, she would rather avoid being in trouble. At this point, she could honestly care less about how much trouble she'd get in, considering she just wanted to be with her mom now.

"Are you _sure_? I don't have your mom's number or anything…if something happens…"

"It'll be _fine_. Thank you for your concern though, I appreciate it." Toby nodded his head and leaned against a nearby tree. She figured he was probably thinking she wanted to impress Mason, which she did, but she knew she shouldn't exert herself to impress _anyone_. "Momma always taught me not to overexert myself."

"Just making sure…" He took a deep breath and motioned for Mason. "All right, let's talk game strategies. Our goal is this tree. You girls can have the tree over there." Charlotte followed his point to a willow tree in the distance. "We run to that, you run to this. How does that sound, good or not?"

"I'm fine with it," Regina shrugged. Charlotte nodded and pulled Regina towards their goal to discuss strategies. "Okay Charlotte, we have one guy that can run really fast, Mason. Then a guy that can throw really far…" She winced and brought her hand to her forehead. "Something wrong?"

"I can't run that well, and I can't throw that well." Regina sighed and looked up at the two.

"Great, and I have asthma. That's fine, I've played ball with the guys enough, so I can run. I'm not as good as Mason, but I'm a better runner than Toby." Charlotte raised an eyebrow and watched as Regina smirked. "Well, I've had practice. But Toby's heart, it's not as fragile as yours sounds, but it's not all that strong either. He says it runs in the family."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, he's always watching over his mom, so he goes through a lot of stress. I worry about him from time to time." The girls looked over to the boys, they were doing some stretches before getting started. "Maybe we should start stretching. Here's my thought though. If we stick close together and keep the ball in our hands, we can probably beat them."

"Right." So their strategy might be a little different than the guys, she was certain they could win if they tried hard enough. "I guess Toby keeps active enough for his heart?"

"Yeah." That's how her family had been, from what Teddy always told her. She was just the one with the incredibly frail heart, so staying active didn't help her as much as it helped the others. For her, activity at minimal was best. "He doesn't have to take medication or anything like that, not like I do for my asthma, but he still has to watch himself."

"I understand."

The game was underway, and it had gone well for the most part. Toby and Mason utilized the long running and throwing skills to advance while Regina and Charlotte stuck close together and tossed the ball between each other. They went through three matches, with each team winning at least one round. The guys won the third match, but it had all still been fun.

When the fun was over, Charlotte had climbed up into a small but wide tree. As she sat on the branch, gazing down at the trio, a smile came to her lips. This was the first time she had really bothered to socialize, and it went better than she ever thought it would. Perhaps when she got back to Chicago, she should just be brave and socialize with those at school and on the dance set.

Mason looked up at her as Regina and Toby walked over to a park bench. He put his hand to his forehead and chuckled. "Hey, are you enjoying yourself up there?" She hummed and kicked her heels in the air. Her fingers tapped the rough bark while she gazed up into the sky, letting the wind rush through her hair.

"Yeah, it's nice. Momma's always afraid for me if I climb trees and stuff, but I'm an excellent climber." It was one of the few things she was actually able to do, and she loved it. The rush of the wind at high altitudes, feeling the thrill of being above ground, feeling like she was able to accomplish some sort of physical feat, it was what reminded her that she was alive. "I can't do a whole lot of physical things. In fact, right now, my heart is going really fast after all that running."

"Oh?" He started to frown. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yes. I just need to relax and calm down." To be perfectly honest, it was the first time she'd ever truly played a football game like that. "I don't get out much. No friends…I don't think there are that many people who would be interested in me."

"Why's that? You're a nice girl. I'd love to get to know you, actually." She put her hand to her chest and flashed a bright smile.

"Thank you. Though, you probably wouldn't like me all that much if you knew me. You'd tire of me."

"You don't have a lot of faith in friends, do you?"

"Honestly?" She started climbing down the tree, jumping off and landing with a grunt. As she rose up, she tucked her hair behind her ear and sighed. "I hardly ever talk to anyone. It's not that I'm shy, I just…I've never had friends. Toby's an online friend, or was, so that explains that. This is my first experience really getting involved with people. I'm not crazy or anything, I just don't trust myself with socialization."

"You seem to be doing just fine right now. Being yourself is the best way to make friends and to socialize. Honesty counts too. Aside from Regina, I'm Toby's best friend, and the dude is usually depressed and stressed, but he keeps true to who he is, and he makes friends."

"Yeah, that is good." Her stomach started to growl and she quickly put her hand over her abdomen, groaning. "Um, I'm sorry…I'm just a bit hungry."

"Want to head over to the food court? The mall is just around the corner."

The invitation seemed genuine, and she really liked this guy. Maybe a distraction from all this craziness would be good for her. "Yeah, that'd be great." Toby walked up with Regina, frowning slightly.

"Hey guys, I have to get back home. Mom's awake and wants to know where I'm at."

"Oh…" Charlotte rubbed her neck and sighed. "Well, Mason asked me to go with him to the food court, so…"

"That's good. He's a good friend, swing by when you're done."

"All right." She hugged him, then followed Mason off. There was a bounce in her step, and she felt as though she were floating upon the clouds. Was this what it was like to have a friend? She felt real, she felt secure. "Yeah…when I go back to Chicago…I need to make some friends."

* * *

A nice chapter here, what did you think of it?


	20. Lost

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 20 (Lost)

Toby exhaled sharply as he rested on the front porch, he just wanted to go _one day_ without his mother beseeching him and wondering where the hell he was. Sure, he couldn't blame her, not when there was so much grief in the woman's life. Having two children having a child together, then leaving on separate paths, losing a third once he left for college, and then losing a husband to self-induced alcohol poisoning? Sure it was hard on her, but it was hard on _him_ too! None of it was his fault, not that she ever blamed him.

Toby glanced at the old abandoned home across the street. Mrs. Dabney _used _to live there, but she passed a year ago. The woman never made things easy on him, or Amy, for that matter. Gabe ignored her until he left for college. She always mocked Bob and Amy for running their children off. Some days she was nice and friendly, but other days he would have loved to bury her in a pit. Nowadays, the neighborhood was too silent with her gone. What did it matter?

As he opened the door, he saw his mother sitting on the couch, blankly gazing at the television in front of her. The screen was black. He shut the door behind him and moved over to Amy, taking a seat beside her. "Hey Mom, I'm home." Amy sobbed once and moved her head to his shoulder. He rolled his eyes and looked down at the photo he'd been staring at before. "Sorry I left without telling you, I was playing ball with a friend of mine down at the park. You were asleep and I didn't want to wake you."

"It's okay…" Yeah he should have left a note for her at least, he usually did if he went somewhere. No matter how insane or depressed she acted, he was the one Duncan child that wasn't going to leave her. Hell, he needed his mother as much as she needed him. "I was just worried, I didn't know if something happened to you or not. I'm sorry if I'm being overbearing, Toby." She always apologized to him, always taking special care to make sure she wouldn't run him off. It was exhausting, but what more could he do?

"You're not, Mom. You're my mom, I'll always love you." He gave her a reassuring smile and hugged her. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine, sweetheart. Did you make any new friends today?"

"Yeah actually, I did. This one girl visiting from Chicago, she was hanging with Regina and Dee down at the library." Amy lifted her eyebrows and smiled at him.

"Is she cute?" He coughed on her question and quickly shook his head, he didn't feel a thing towards Charlotte in that perspective. Besides, he was attracted to Regina.

"I uh…You know I'm into _Regina_, Mom." Besides that, there was something about Charlotte. He didn't feel a thing for her because he couldn't, she seemed too familiar. "But she has a single mom too. She was taking a trip to New York, but got on the wrong bus." Amy gasped and cupped her hand over her mouth.

"Oh no! Is her mother with her?"

"No. I think she misses her mom though." He could see a look in her eyes that seemed to designate a desire to help. "Weird thing about her, she has an extremely fragile heart, and looks like Teddy…" Amy froze up and her eyes started to widen. "I don't know, I've only seen pictures, so I can't really say anything…" He moved from the couch and looked at the stairs. "I'm going to my room. Do you need anything?"

"No, I'm good. I think I'm just going to lay down some more." He watched as she moved sideways onto the couch, curling her legs up and tucking them inwards. She closed her eyes and put her hands between the armrest and her head. He smiled slightly and pulled the blanket on the top of the couch, waved it in the air, then covered her with it. Amy grabbed the edge of the blanket and pulled it up beneath her chin. "Thank you, Toby."

"No problem, Mom." He thinned his lips and slowly walked up to his room. It was next to Gabe's old room, which hadn't been touched either since he left for college. Toby stopped in front of Gabe's door and slowly shook his head. "Of course…" His expression tightened and he quickly swept a tear from his right eye. He moved into his bedroom and shut the door, smiling at the neon stars that lined the ceiling. This was the one place he truly felt okay.

Charlotte liked to reach for the sky and climb up to high altitudes? He could picture her standing on the edge of a mountain, several thousand feet in the air, and reaching up to the clouds. For him, he craved the stars and the night sky. Charlotte's heroes were world famous hikers, mountain climbers, and explorers, but his heroes were men like John Glenn and Neil Armstrong.

His room was decorated with posters of rockets, astronauts, famous space explorers, both human and animal. Above his bed was a large portrait of the two first space dogs, Belka and Strelka, that went up to space in 1960 and returned safely to Earth. On his desk beside his laptop was a large model spaceship he made for science class. His bedding was black with white dots to represent the stars in the sky. For him, being an astronaut wasn't a cliché childhood dream that would fade away, it _was_ his dream. Amy wasn't too sure she liked the idea, but she was all for him doing whatever it was he wanted to do.

He made his way to his desk and opened up his laptop, smiling wholeheartedly at the desktop background of a rocket in liftoff, with flames and smoke all around it. Toby watched the mouse cursor as he moved it over to a folder icon, it held all of the video diaries that Teddy had shot when she was still here. Amy had kept a backup of them all, and Gabe had explained them all over the years. Even today, Toby still loved watching them, even though his mother couldn't sit through five minutes of one without winding up in tears.

He clicked on the very final video, one he'd not watched that often before. Charlotte came to mind and his eyes slowly fell onto the window next to him. He wasn't sure why exactly, but there was something that felt off to him. He couldn't get her off his mind, as if he should know her, as though there were some sort of connection that he was failing to see. So what was it? The corner of his lip pulled back as he loaded the final video and leaned back. His heart started to sink when he saw his oldest sister's face pop up on the screen, tears in her eyes. Charlie stood next to her, playing with the hem of her hat.

_"This will be my final video diary, it was bound to come anyway." Teddy looked down at Charlie and knelt, pulling the girl into a hug. "My precious angel, Charlotte Duncan." She took a deep breath and gazed into the young child's eyes, sniffing silently. "You know this is for the best, baby? Momma loves you."_

_ "I love you too, Momma. Where are we going?"_

_ "I'm not sure, sweetheart, but things will get better. I promise you." She turned back to the camera and tucked her hair back, sighing heavily. "I don't know if you'll ever see this video or not, Charlie. I know Mom keeps all these on some drive, so maybe your little baby brother or sister will see this one day."_

_ "Momma? I no see them?"_

_ "I know baby, you'll understand when you're older…why this is best…"_

Toby scoffed and put his hand to his chest, clutching it tightly. This pained him more than he'd anticipated it would. He understood why Gabe felt so angry and alone, never once going without missing his siblings. "Why? Why was it best?" Wiping a tear from his eyes, he continued to study the video. _"Did she just call her daughter Charlotte?"_

_"I know this is going to be hard on Gabe, and I wish it didn't have to be like this, but…Christmas just wasn't good. Grandma and Mom went insane, and Charlie nearly had another problem with her heart. This isn't a healthy or safe environment. It has to end…If anyone wonders about how I'm finding money…don't worry about it. Just…" Teddy clenched her tear filled eyes shut and put the heel of her palm to her eyes. "It's degrading, I know, but there's no other alternative that I can find."_

_ "Momma? Can I say bye-bye to Gabe?"_

_ "What?" She looked over her shoulder and smiled sadly. "Yes baby, go right ahead, Momma will be out soon."_

_ "Okay!" Teddy watched her daughter walk off, then turned back to the camera. She took a deep breath and shivered._

_ "My first boss is helping me finish school somewhere and is giving me a place for dirt cheap. Though my roommates are…I don't know. His name is Tyrell Beckham. That's all you need to know. Wish us luck…"_

"Tyrell Beckham?" He hummed to himself and opened up his internet browser. He turned his eyes to his door for a second, then returned to the screen. Once the search engine was brought up, he typed the name in and pressed enter. What came up surprised him, a bunch of news articles for the same person who apparently died several years ago.

Tyrell Beckham was the owner of a few strip clubs within Denver, Colorado back in 2011. He ran a respectable business and helped many of his own dancers move along in life, but it all ended one day when an angry, rejected customer returned to the strip club with a gun in hand. The man had been getting touchy with one of the dancers, kept asking for more than a simple lap dance, which was not permitted within the clubs. Tyrell and one of the bouncers threw the man out and banned him permanently. When the doors closed down for the night, the customer returned and shot both Tyrell and the bouncer, killing the two. Many of the dancers had been picked up by various clubs, but a few went on to clubs farther east, leaving Denver.

"Whoa…" His heart stilled as he moved down the article, even seeing pictures of the crime scene shocked him. He knew Charlotte's mother worked as a stripper for several years before they hit Chicago, then Teddy mentions Tyrell as her first boss? "Can't be coincidence…" He turned his desk chair around and stared at the end table beside his bed. "Charlotte looks so much like Teddy. It can't be, can it?"

All he ever wanted to do was to see his family, to know PJ and Teddy, to know Charlotte. He wanted to be able to spend time with Gabe, but all these years, he thought it was only a dream. Never did he fathom he could be so _close_. If it was true, if it wasn't a dream, then he would praise the day he decided to talk to that gamer _InbredWarrior_ on the online page.

Toby's heart stopped in mid beat, his mood quickly shot down. This meant Charlotte was Teddy and PJ's daughter. He didn't have a problem with it, but at now he understood the meaning of her in-game name.

What was he supposed to do now? How was he supposed to react? Should he tell his mother? How would _she_ react? "I need to think…" He didn't want to bring it up and be wrong, he would feel like such a fool if he did that. It was clear she didn't know, she didn't even recognize him, or his mother. He scratched his head and moaned again, realizing now that _Charlotte_ was lost in Denver, and her mother was _never_ going to come here. "What am I supposed to _do_? Ugh!"

* * *

Oh joy, look what we've discovered! Tell me your thoughts. **  
**


	21. Missing You

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 21 (Missing You)

"So how long will you be in Denver?" Mason asked as Charlotte walked with him. She wasn't sure she'd be there long at all, considering she really did want to get back home. "It would be fantastic to hang out more often."

"It would, but I'm hoping to get home soon, to be honest. My mom is probably worried sick about me." Chances were, that was a gross understatement, but what else could she say? She knew her mother better than anyone else did, and quite literally, neither would survive long without the other. The bond between a mother and her child would always remain there, no matter what, it could never be severed. "I imagine Mom would become as reclusive as Toby's mom is if she lost me." Mason nodded his head and sighed. Chances were pretty good that he understood just how bad the situation might be for Toby and his mother. "I've only been here one day and I already miss momma."

"Have you called her?"

"No, my phone's still charging over at Toby's place." She wasn't really wanting to go back there either when taking his mother into consideration. There was a good chance she didn't want to face the woman, it scared her just a bit, to be honest. "I'll probably head back there later…" The sun was beginning to set, which troubled her. She had _not_ given any thought to overnight stays. Toby's mom probably wouldn't even allow her to stay overnight. She bowed her head and swallowed hard. "Oh no…I don't have anywhere to stay…I never should have left my mom behind! I listen to her on _everything_, she told me 'no', and I should have just left it at that!"

"Relax Charlotte, I'm sure she'll understand." She shook her head and stomped her foot on the ground. If she didn't find a way back to her mom, and soon, she might have a panic attack, and if she had a panic attack, she was in trouble. At this point, she didn't even _care_ if she was grounded or not. "Here, come with me, I think my Aunt and Uncle can figure something out." She raised an eyebrow and looked up at him, smiling softly. He really _was_ nice to offer her some help, but she didn't want to impose.

"Thanks, but I'd rather not impose…"

"Well. What other options are there?" Her heart crashed and she quickly smacked her forehead. There were no other alternatives. "My Aunt's nice, she'd be glad to help you out any way she could."

"I guess…I do need to calm down, really." Her heart had been racing all this time just from the stress of her predicament. If she didn't relax, she might not be able to slow the rapid pacing. "I'd really appreciate the help. I'll have to grab my phone from Toby later. I don't want to bother him or his mother right now."

"Fair enough…"

In New York, Teddy gazed from the window in PJ's guest bedroom. Her heart was pounding hard inside and her stomach had a deep, growing pit. The longer she went without Charlotte, the more depressed she became. "Have you talked to Ivy lately?" PJ asked from behind. She turned to face him and smiled vaguely. What good would Ivy do?

"No…I mean I've _been_ talking to her. We started talking again about four years ago. She…doesn't know anything about what I've been up to." His expression fell as she folded her hands over each other and rested them in front of her waist. She hadn't told him yet, but she knew he would want to know. He was her brother, she felt more comfortable about telling him than she did Ivy. She couldn't explain her feelings on that matter, but she felt PJ wouldn't judge her as badly as Ivy might. "I haven't been up to a lot of good."

"Yeah, you said you hadn't gone through college. What have you been doing? Before your waitressing job, that is?" She chuckled nervously and moved her hand to her neck. She craned her head to the right and groaned softly. "Teddy?"

"I'm not _proud_ of it. The first guy I worked with was willing to help me finish high school and get into college. Well I finished high school, but he was killed and I had to move on…each site manager was terrible, so Charlotte and I just kept moving east until we found Rocky and Cece…" She took a deep breath and flicked her eyes up towards his gaze. "I was working as a…stripper…PJ." His eyes widened and his jaw dropped for a split second. She winced, expecting him to start yelling, but he didn't. Instead, he gave her a brotherly hug, comforting her.

"I'm sorry, Sis." She whimpered once and felt a tear drop from her eyes. "I abandoned you guys in a rage, I should have kept in touch with you. Even when I got to New York, Skyler and her family, they asked about you and Charlotte."

"They did?"

"Yeah." He stepped back and looked towards the door. "They wanted me to bring you and Charlotte, and I started to call, but I think you were gone by then. Your number was no longer working." She grimaced in reply, she canceled her number just days before leaving. "It is good to see you again after all these years."

"What's done is done. Now, Charlotte's really all I have left, and without her…I'm lost." Her phone was on the bed, she'd been keeping it close in case Charlotte called her, but the girl never did. "I'm beyond grounding her, I just want my baby. What good would calling Ivy do right now? It's not going to take my mind off my baby."

"I know, but at least talk to her and let her know what's going on."

"Yeah…"

Charlotte and Mason entered his house and she was immediately stunned by the décor. It was a beautiful home that was decorated with lavish draperies, records, and portraits. The couch was made of tiger striped fur, and the carpeting was a sweet peach color. "Are you wealthy or something?" He chuckled and lifted his shoulders.

"My aunt's a designer and my uncle is a record producer, they save a lot of their earnings." She was impressed enough as it was. Mason walked forward a bit. She turned to a photo on the wall and smiled, there was a man and woman with Mason, and a young child. "Aunt Ivy, Uncle Emmett, I'm home!" She froze in an instant, feeling a chill shooting down her spine. She spun around, gawking her disbelief. _Emmett and Ivy Heglin_? Her mother's childhood best friend? No, it couldn't be.

"Y-You're joking?" Mason turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "Heglin?"

"Yeah, that's my last name."

"Your Uncle and Aunt are…" She let out a dull whimper as older looking versions of Emmett and Ivy walked into the living room. She wanted to rush over and beg Ivy to call her mother, but was scared to do so. If this was _truly_ that same person, how was she supposed to react? The adults looked at her, freezing their gazes on her. "Mr. and Mrs. Heglin…"

"Not Teddy," Ivy whispered, grabbing onto Emmett's arm. "Charlotte? It can't be…Teddy would never allow…" Charlotte swallowed hard and Mason quickly looked between the two. He cleared his throat and motioned to her.

"Um, this is a friend of mine that I met today." The couple looked at him, expecting an explanation. Charlotte remained silent. She did not know exactly what to say, and was afraid to speak up for fear of rebuke. "Toby and Regina introduced us. She's from Chicago…" Ivy stiffened, but Mason continued on without noticing. "I think she was trying to get to New York, but she got on the wrong bus and arrived here. She has nowhere to stay tonight, so I thought maybe you had an idea?"

Charlotte waved nervously and put her hands behind her back. Ivy cleared her throat and moved forward. "Charlotte?" She slowly nodded her head and watched anxiously as Ivy's brow furrowed. "Does your mother know you're here?"

"N-No ma'am…"

"Did your mother _want_ you to come here?"

"No ma'am, and never alone…I miss mom…" Ivy started to say something, but her phone went off. Charlotte leaned forward with a wistful sigh as Ivy quickly excused herself and answered the call. She saw Ivy motion seriously for her to follow, so without question she followed Ivy into the master bedroom. She sat down and watched as Ivy began pacing the floor.

"Teddy, calm down," Ivy stopped pacing and leaned against her short dresser, her back facing the large mirror on the top. Charlotte could hear her mother's voice, rapid and fast. "What are you doing in New York?" Charlotte gasped and slapped herself mentally, she should have known her mom would go after her! "Yes, um, Charlotte got on the wrong bus. Apparently she ran into my nephew…would you like to talk to her? Who am I kidding, of course you do…"

Charlotte took the phone and carefully placed it to her hear, listening only to her mom's slow breathing. She was attempting to calm herself down. "H-Hi momma…I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."

"You're in _Denver_? Baby, I told you I didn't want you going to New York. Do you know how worried I've been?"

"I'm sorry." Tears stung her eyes and she slowly fell back onto the bed. "I miss you, Mommy. I'm scared, I don't have anywhere to go…"

"That's okay sweetie. Stay with Ivy…I want you on a plane here _tomorrow_." How would that work? They didn't have enough money for a plane ticket, she barely had enough for the _bus_. She stammered and let her mom's soft voice sooth her. "I do have a surprise for you, but you have to get on that plane first thing tomorrow."

"I will, Momma. I promise…" She sniffled and quickly sat up. "I made a few friends, Momma. They're really nice."

"I'm glad to hear that, Charlotte."

"I hope I can still talk to them."

"I won't have a problem with that, just…please, when I tell you not to do something-"

"I know Momma. I'm sorry." She quickly wiped her eyes and revealed a faint smile. "I love you Momma. What's in New York?"

"I love you too. Mrs. Hessenheffer and her partner, Rick, are here in New York. Also, PJ will be paying for your plane trip here." She gasped in delight and quickly jumped up. Now was not the best time for her to cheer, but she couldn't help to feel some amount of joy that her mom was actually going to let her meet her father.

"Y-You're serious? I get to meet him? Really, truly?"

"Yes baby…but only because I had to come up here thinking you'd come to find him." Teddy took a deep breath and paused for a minute. Charlotte fingered the edge of her jean belt and bit her lip, she knew she didn't deserve this instead of a serious punishment, which was likely to come either way. "He's got a good family now, dear…and none of them are judging us, so I don't have a problem with you meeting him."

"Yeah…Maybe we can find Grandma and Gabe!"

"That…" Teddy chuckled nervously. Charlotte heard her tapping her nails on the end table. "That will not happen anytime soon, sweetheart. I honestly don't think there's any chance of reuniting with them."

"But why, Momma? I think Grandma might really miss you."

"I doubt that…Honey, let's talk about this tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay Momma…" After another minute of talking and planning, they parted for the night. She was ecstatic about getting back to her mom. She looked up at Ivy with a small smile, knowing her mother directed Ivy to keep her close. "Momma says I'm going home tomorrow." Ivy smiled at her and sat beside her, patting her back.

"I know you were just wanting to see your family. Or at least, PJ, it isn't your fault for getting on the wrong bus. You are more like your mother than you could ever believe." She laughed and quickly shook her head, Teddy didn't seem like the type to sneak out and get into _this much_ trouble.

"My mom never got in trouble."

"Oh sweetie, she got into more trouble than ever! I could tell you so many stories."

"Oh! Please? I don't have anything _else_ to do."

Ivy laughed. "Okay, I'll see what I can pull from my old memory banks…"

* * *

So Charlotte's finally getting sent back to her Mother, but this also means she gets to meet PJ. What a chapter this was, hope you liked it


	22. Incomplete

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 22 (Incomplete)

Deep South in Trinidad, Colorado, Gabe Duncan sat quietly in the office of his home. His hair was short, but wavy, and it covered the tips of his ears. He had a thin brown moustache and black shades that rested on the bridge of his nose. He was dressed in a suit and tie, feeling a tad stuffy.

He turned twenty-six in a few months and already had a precious five year old daughter, Jenny. He reclined in his black leather office chair and smiled at the framed photo on his brown oak desk. In the photo, he had his arm around his wife's shoulders while their precious brown haired daughter laughed and jumped for the camera. Jenny had her hair up in two long pigtails like usual, and bright green eyes that hovered just above her high freckled cheekbones. She was his pride and joy.

He finished college recently with a master's degree in Law Enforcement and worked as a detective. Jo taught martial arts classes at a local studio, and despite going through her second pregnancy, she was still working. She didn't have to do much other than be there to instruct her students, she had her highest degree black belt performing the lessons she taught. It was a collaborative effort.

The family lived in a small one story home with three bedrooms. The living room had its usual décor with a warm fireplace before a brown sofa that matched the wooden walls and light brown carpeting. The living room connected to the kitchen only by the point the carpet met the peach kitchen tile. The kitchen wasn't so big, just a simple island with a silver sink, a gas stove, silver refrigerator, and a maple rectangular table that rested beside a glass sliding door which led into the backyard where Gabe had built a fort for Jenny to play on.

Next to the fireplace in the living room was a doorway leading into a horizontal hallway flowing from west to east. At the far west end of the hallway were two doors, one led into Jenny's bedroom, and the second led into the empty guest bedroom. In between the two was a door that opened out into the bathroom. On the East end rested the master bedroom and Gabe's office directly across from the room. It was a quaint home, he had absolutely no complaints about it whatsoever.

"Gabe, are you coming to bed?" Jo asked, poking her head into the office.

"In a minute…" He looked back at her, stunned as always by her vision. Her hair was down and flowed like a wavy brown river to her shoulders. Her remarkable brown eyes gazed at him with longing and eagerness, anticipation after a long day of not seeing each other. She was wearing her golden night gown that showed off the small baby bump. "God you are beautiful."

"And I'm yours. Now hurry up and come to bed." He chuckled and watched her slowly close the door, but not before shooting off a flirtatious gaze. "All the good little boys and girls have gone to bed, Gabe. I'll be waiting." Her sultry voice drifted out like honey, tempting him and pulling him. Gabe knew far better than to keep her waiting, else he wouldn't be getting anything from her for quite some time.

He turned towards his desk and stared down at his black laptop, sneering mildly as he stared at the news article for Tyrell Beckham. When he finished the academy, finished college, and got onto the force, he wanted to use his abilities to locate his siblings. He never quite got over them, still he felt miserable without them in his life. His research was still somewhat fresh, but he'd at least started to find Teddy's trail. It wasn't hard to find exactly where PJ was, considering anyone in the police force could locate someone's address, unlisted or not.

From what he understood, Teddy was likely somewhere near Chicago. He wasn't sure, and knew she probably wouldn't talk to him if he showed up at her door. PJ, on the other hand, might still associate with him. He wasn't sure either way, but did it matter? All he wanted was to see them again.

Remembering his lovely wife, he shut off his desk lamp and moved towards his bedroom. When inside, he saw Jo lying on the right side of the bed with a book in her hand, she seemed intent on finishing up whatever novel she was getting into. The lamps on both side tables were on, lighting up the blue waterbed. Jo looked up from her bed as Gabe started removing his red and black patterned tie. "I see you've decided to come to bed," she teased. "It feels like it's been an _eternity_."

"Well, I certainly don't want to leave you feeling left out." He grinned and removed his sports jacket, tossing it on the dresser to his right. Jo shut her book and set it on the table. She sat up and curled her legs inward as he moved to the bed, wagging his eyebrows. "I'm all yours baby."

"Oh good. It's been too long." She grabbed his pale blue dress shirt and pulled him towards her, kissing him full on the lips. He didn't resist her, she preferred to lead in bed when they hadn't done anything for quite some time. He hadn't had sex with her in a couple months, so likely, she would be feeling wild tonight.

They finished nearly an hour later, having been as quiet as possible, considering Jenny was just down the hall. He lay shirtless beneath the covers, his arm wrapped beneath Jo as she rested her hand on his chest and lightly kissed his shoulder. "You needed to loosen up," she whispered, "I hope that helped some."

He smiled at her and gently kissed her lips. "Very much." Tense was an understatement. He couldn't explain why, but he had been so stressed lately. It had to do with the research on PJ and Teddy, there wasn't any other explanation. "I know where PJ is, Jo. What bothers me, though, is what Teddy's been going through."

"What do you mean?"

"Well I looked into some of these strip clubs from Denver to Illinois, and I see her name on a whole string of them." He didn't want to believe she'd been a stripper, but there was no denying the hard evidence. Unfortunately he couldn't trace her any farther than the last strip club she worked at. "I know I think about them a lot, and I probably shouldn't think so much on them, but…"

"You have every right to. They were your siblings, whether they admit it or not." He truly felt abandoned by them, still, but those days were past. He understood _why_ it had to happen. "I know their leaving wasn't something you ever liked, but all that stress on Charlie? Would staying have been worth it?"

"I don't know."

"You also should think about Toby. You left _him_ behind too." He hated when she was right, but he didn't argue her points. Toby was a good kid, an excellent brother, but all the anger Gabe held towards Amy and Bob was just too much for him to deal with. He had to go, he had to leave Toby behind. "I know you just wanted to move on with your life and all, but…"

"I'd say everything's perfect, wouldn't you?" He hoped to convince her with a smile, but she merely looked away from him. She didn't appear convinced, rather, disappointed. "I have you, we have Jenny…a beautiful home in a great community, both of us have great jobs…What more could we possibly ask for?"

"You can't honestly say you're satisfied, Gabe. Of _everything_, you're truly satisfied?" She raised an eyebrow and shot her gaze into his, studying him. As her gaze burned into him, the hole inside his chest seemed to grow. His 'picture perfect' life wasn't right. They weren't whole, and he knew it. "You can lie to yourself and hide how you feel all you want from your coworkers, your daughter, but you can't hide anything from _me_."

"Fine." With a heavy sigh, he gave in. "It isn't like I have any idea what to do, Jo. I'm just living life the way I know how to." It was hard to accept that his father was gone, that his older siblings were gone, and as much as he _wanted_ to find them, he questioned whether he had the strength to actually do it. "I've pinpointed PJ and Teddy, but I won't do anything about it."

"Why not, Gabe? What's holding you back from contacting them?"

"I don't know, it's like…would they really _care_ to hear from me? I'm sure I'm just a part of the bad memory."

"You should contact them, you've been mulling over this for years, Gabe. I don't want you to keep mulling over it, because it's not helping anything." She rolled over onto her other side and scooted back against his body. "I know you've been going to bars lately. Ever since you found out what Teddy's gone through, and you know where PJ's at…you've started drinking." His heart sank and he clenched his eyes shut. He knew it was bad, especially when his father had alcohol troubles. He'd not become an alcoholic yet, and if Jo knew he had begun drinking, it meant she wasn't going to let it happen either.

"I'm sorry Jo…I won't let it be a problem…"

"Not with a daughter and a child on the way. You need to face your past, Gabe. Don't mope and start drinking, that isn't you. That's your father, not you."

"I know…" He didn't want to be like Bob, and that's what constantly shook him up, that he was afraid of going down the same road. He hated going back to Denver, he could hardly look his mother in the face without blaming her for Teddy and PJ leaving, and he could hardly look at Toby without feeling so disgusted in himself. "Jo…I love you."

"I love you too, Gabe." He kissed the nape of her neck and moved his arms around her waist.

The next morning, he was awakened by his happy daughter and the smell of pancakes. She was shaking him and bouncing on the bed. He put his hands to her shoulders and smiled at her. "Daddy! Mommy's made breakfast. You get eggs and bacon, I got pancakes! Come on, let's eat, Daddy!"

"All right princess, give me a minute to get dressed."

"Yay!" She hugged him tight and bounced out of the room. With a laugh, he threw off his covers and moved from the bed. It didn't take him long to get dressed. The wonderful aroma led him out into the kitchen, which was lit up by the morning sun. Jenny was already at the table with her pancakes. Jo was standing beside her, setting Gabe's plate down. He met her with a morning kiss.

"Good morning dear. Breakfast smells great."

"I'm glad. I want something on your stomach for what I have to say." He lifted his eyebrows curiously and took his seat. When she sat across from him, he reached over and cupped his hand over hers. She smiled at him and closed her eyes. "I want to take Jenny to see her uncle in New York." His jaw dropped and his heart screeched to a halt.

"Y-You mean PJ?"

"Yes. Then, maybe, we can convince him to go to Illinois and find Teddy." Knowing Jo, this was more than just a suggestion, it was an order. He didn't feel like doing it, but at the same time, he wanted to. She was just putting into action what he didn't have the balls to do. "What do you say? Jenny deserves to see her uncle." Jenny agreed with a laugh. So sweet, so innocent, and yet she didn't have a clue to what she was agreeing to. "I know it's a difficult decision for you, Gabe, so take some time to think about it…but it needs to be done. For you, for Jenny, for all of us…"

He watched as she forked her breakfast and took a bite. It was times like these, he was grateful to have her around. As frightened as he was at the thought of seeing his siblings again, he was more than thankful for her support. "I'll think about it."

* * *

Ah hm, so that's what Gabe's been up to all these years. Seems he has a nice family, and a sexy, but scary wife to boot XD. Tell me your thoughts.


	23. Reconnection

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 23 (Reconnection)

Charlotte stepped from the terminal in New York, overwhelmed by the gross amount of people that surrounded her. Much to her dismay, she didn't see her mother _anywhere_. "I need to call her…" The morning had been a rush to get to the airport, since they were nearly late for the plane, so she hardly had time to say goodbye to Toby or Regina. Of course Mason went along with her and with Ivy, so she got to say goodbye to him at least.

She reached for her pockets, fingering around for her phone, but didn't feel it. She didn't own a purse, and everything she kept, she kept in her pockets. "Where is my phone?" Then it hit her like a ton of bricks, she'd left her phone charging at Toby's place! Not only that, they'd put it beneath the couch in case his mother saw it and asked questions. "No…shit…" Someone bumped into her from behind, causing her to stumble forward. As she lifted her head up, she was made even more aware of the overwhelming surrounding. How the hell was she going to pick her mother out of a crowd like this? "Okay Charlotte…don't panic…don't panic…" She took a slow, deep breath, and started shifting her eyes around. Her voice left her throat with the tiniest squeak, she thought for sure she would be turning into a mouse. "Momma?"

It didn't take much for her to know she really hated large crowds, and likely, she was not going to enjoy New York all that much. She wasn't going to leave without her mom knowing, again. The lesson had been learned, she never liked undermining her mother before, and she wouldn't do it after this. All she had to do _now_, was _find_ her. "Where's my mom?" She didn't need the stress, or the fear of being alone in such an unknown place. Charlotte tried to move, but she was far too petrified to take another step.

In the clamor, she heard a familiar voice. "Charlotte! Charlie!" She snapped her gaze to the right and saw her mom in the distance, waving her arm. She sighed with relief and smiled, quickly wiping away a tear from her eye. Beside Teddy was a man, holding onto his daughter's hand, a woman with a toddler in her arms, and a boy jumping up and waving. Was this PJ and his family? Could it really be him? "My baby!" Teddy started pushing through the crowds to get to her. She didn't hesitate for a second to start running for her mom, meeting her in the middle.

"Mom!" She was thrilled to be safe in her arms again. Teddy's embrace made everyone and everything around her fade away. As she looked up from her mother's chest, she saw the family, as well as Cece and her partner, walking towards the two. Her hands gripped tightly to Teddy's shirt. "I promise I won't leave you again, Momma. I promise."

"It's okay baby, you're safe now." Teddy kissed the top of her head and tightened her embrace, not once daring to release her. She felt a little guilty for making her mother have to take time off from work, so perhaps there was a way to make up for that. "Come on, let's get you out of here."

It wasn't a long drive to PJ's mansion, and when they got there, Charlotte spent several minutes in shock. She'd never _seen_ such a beautiful house in her life! "I-I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but…_how_ do you afford…all of this?" She was fighting to stay conscious, but in all honesty, she could pass out right now and not care. As long as they entombed her in this house, she would be happy. "I know it's inappropriate to ask, I just…"

Teddy sat on the couch beside her and put an arm around her shoulders, laughing once. "I had the same reaction sweetheart." Charlotte raised an eyebrow and watched as little Zachary and Lucy ran around the spacious room. PJ was in his recliner, Skyler stood behind the chair, and Tyler was sitting beside Charlotte. Teddy threw her hair over her shoulder and jerked her thumb towards her brother. "Skyler's currently a Physician's Assistant, but she's out of work because she's pregnant. PJ's a high school band teacher, and he teaches guitar lessons on weekends."

"We're also furthering our education," PJ reminded her. "I'm trying to get my doctorate so I can be a college professor, and Skyler's studying to become a licensed Physician, or a Surgeon." Her jaw dropped and her body became limp. She knew both professions made _nearly_ one hundred grand annually! Impressive stats, of course, but she was still proud of her mother nonetheless. "I'm hoping to teach at NYU."

"You've got to be kidding me," Charlotte muttered. She shook her head and started to clear her throat. "Well _still_, my momma's doing the best she can also!" She straightened her back and tilted her head upwards, smirking with pride. "Working as a waitress on a fourteen dollar an hour wage as head waitress and a promotion to manager on the line, she's just as successful as you." Teddy started to blush and PJ gave a warm smile.

"I don't doubt that at all. I've always believed in my sister, and you've seen firsthand what she can do, so I believe you. We've all had rough times, believe me, it's all in how you rise above those times that counts." She paused and slowly nodded her head. They couldn't have done it without Cece or Rocky, to be honest. "If it wasn't for Skyler's parents, neither of us would be where we are. Far from it, actually…you just have to keep trying to get ahead, and if you keep pushing, eventually the doors open."

"Yeah. Momma's boss is helping her to go to college, she's been going for a year and is majoring in journalism!" PJ looked towards Teddy, full of pride. Charlotte was happy that PJ and Skyler were not haughty or stuck up, but then, they never had anything _handed_ to them. They had to work to get where they were, and most often the people who had to work to get somewhere were the ones that were most humble. The reason for it was due to the fact that they _knew_ they couldn't afford to act like spoiled brats. "I'm glad you're doing so well, are you proud of Momma?"

"Of course we are." PJ met Teddy's gaze, his chest lowered and his shoulders fell. "Have you heard from Gabe any?" Teddy shook her head and pulled her arm back from Charlotte.

"No, I put my life behind me when I left," she replied. "I feel guilty sure, but it was for the best. I know he wasn't to blame for the way our parents and grandma were, but…the environment was too dangerous for Charlotte."

"Yeah. I mean, I think about him from time to time, haven't heard anything. I know from talking to Emmett that he left Denver when he left for college. I don't know how he's been affected by it, but I do regret leaving him behind."

"We didn't have a choice. At least I didn't, I couldn't take him with me, not going through the things I went through. I couldn't get him through high school or college, really. I barely got Charlotte through school." Public school was usually free, but growing up, she didn't get that many _good_ schools. "Honestly it wasn't until I got to Chicago that I got to enroll Charlotte in one of the better schools around."

"Only the cheap ones let her in apparently," Cece remarked. She and Rick were behind the couch, having been quiet all this time. The others looked up to her as she crossed her arms. "When they got to Chicago, Rocky and I managed to get Charlotte enrolled in a _proper_ school, not a downtown cheap school that treated her like shit because of her mom's profession."

"I see," PJ shook his head and his expression fell. "Why didn't you ever try and talk to me before? Why wait all these years?" He put his hand to his chin and tapped his right left hand on the armrest. "I know I made it difficult by being unlisted, but you're my sister. I actually would have done anything I could to help you out. I'm only unlisted because I never wanted Mom or Dad to come searching for me."

"I was a _stripper_, PJ, don't you think I thought about contacting you over the years? I was so sure you would want nothing to do with me, especially not if you knew what I'd been doing. When I started talking to Ivy and she told me how well you seemed to be doing, I _especially_ didn't want to bother you!"

"Well, now you know."

"Our door is always open," Skyler added. She gave a reassuring smile and Tyler hugged Teddy. "It's always great to see you again, and if you ever need anything, we're here for you. Morally or financially, we'll help."

Charlotte knew her mom well enough to know she likely wouldn't accept money from them unless she was desperate, but she could tell her mom was happy. She had a bit of a glow radiating from her, something that she'd not seen from her mother in a very long time. She was going to say something, but before she could get a word out, Tyler had started up with a very good question. "How would we refer to Charlotte?" PJ and Teddy exchanged glances and Skyler chuckled nervously. "She's both a sister, yet, a cousin."

"I have a simple solution for that," Charlotte had been wondering the same thing for a while, but it hadn't really been brought up before. Now she was thinking it could be very important in the future. If PJ became a college professor, what would his superiors think about him having a child with his sister? "Since my momma is the one that raised me, I think it might be best to just assume I am her daughter and hers alone. To me, PJ is my uncle, and I'm your cousin."

"That seems fair." Tyler glanced between the two adults and took a deep breath. "Is that an issue?"

"I don't see how it would be a problem," PJ remarked. "I don't have any qualms with it, I mean. As long as I still get to see my sister and…niece." His eyebrows rose and Teddy hinted at a smile. From what Charlotte understood, and from what she could see, the days of those confusing emotions and thoughts were long gone.

"Nothing would make me happier," Teddy replied, "I can't really uproot from Chicago though, and you have a life here in New York." Charlotte snapped her fingers and mentally cursed at her mom's words, she'd forgotten that initial fact. No one could move. She and her mother had too many ties to Chicago, as PJ did in New York.

"We can still be a family, right?" She asked, her voice rushed on the words. Her mom and PJ nodded in her direction. She could see holiday visits, summertime visits. If they made a conscientious effort, then they could truly come together as a family, no matter how far apart they were. "Just….need to make that effort and not hide away anymore…" She wondered what they could do to start involving each other in their lives again, they needed something. A _project_, perhaps. As she pondered the thought, a new idea came to her mind like a new dawn. PJ _did_ offer to help financially, and from what she understood in her mother's stories about the past, she never was one to back down when her older brother insisted on an offer.

"We'll always make an effort to be family," PJ marveled. This was good, because she wasn't about to let him go back on that promise.

"Good!" She bounced off of the couch and scurried over to PJ. "You should come see our home." Teddy's eyes started to bug out. She extended her arm, but Charlotte continued. "It's a really tiny apartment, just two very small bedrooms…well if you can count one of the bedrooms as a bedroom, it looks more like a tiny office space." PJ raised an eyebrow and Teddy's hand flew to her forehead. "The living room is about the size of…okay it's tiny, and we have to have the dining table out there, don't get me _started_ on the kitchen. It's not much, but it's home…"

"Charlotte," Teddy growled out. "Why would you tell him that?" She turned to her mother, smiling sweetly and speaking with an innocent charm.

"I love you, Momma."

"You're not out of trouble."

"Dang."

"Is this true?" PJ shifted his gaze to his sister and frowned. "Is your house still that bad?" Teddy slumped her shoulders and averted her eyes.

"Yes…and actually we had a dog too, but were forced to give it up because the apartment didn't allow pets. It's the cheapest place we could find, best place we could afford. It's not _bad_, but it could be better." PJ looked from her, then off to Skyler.

"What do you think honey?" Skyler walked around the chair, humming to herself.

"How are your bills?" Charlotte watched her mom shift uncontrollably. She felt a little bad for putting her in this position, but it had to be done. She wanted PJ involved completely in their lives, Gabe too if they could ever find him. "You're a waitress, so what are you able to afford?"

"Just the basics…we don't even have a really good doctor, to be honest."

"Charlotte needs to have a good doctor. Don't you have insurance?"

"Honestly? Medicaid stopped supporting me a few years ago." Skyler and PJ cringed. "As for bills, we've had a couple unpaid bills here and there, but not much." Charlotte bit her lip and moved back beside her mom, putting her arm around her shoulders for comfort. "Look. I _really_ don't want to ask you for money, especially not after all this time, and I'm not going to. I don't know what Charlotte was thinking, telling you all of that, but-"

"It's a good thing she did!" PJ slowly stood from his chair and walked over to her. Teddy peered up at him, struggling to speak her mind. "Again, you're my sister, and no sister of mine is going to live like that if I can help it."

"PJ, you don't have to do anything…it's _fine,_ really."

"Teddy. You and Charlotte _both_ need good doctors, you need a better apartment for one…I have some money in the bank, let me help you out. If not for your sake, for Charlotte's." Teddy clicked her tongue and slowly looked to her daughter. PJ drove a hard bargain, there was no questioning that.

"I'll…have to think about that before I agree to it…"

* * *

Your thoughts on the reunion?


	24. Happiness Returning

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 24 (Happiness Returning)

Two days later, they were all still in New York. Cece and Rick were over once more, as they'd been staying in a motel while PJ insisted Teddy stay in the guest room with Charlotte. Teddy was in the guest room while Charlotte was out back playing with her cousins. She was gazing at the street below and had half a smile across her face. The past couple of days had been very soothing for her, more so than she thought possible in regards to being reunited with her brother. She'd even given some thought to his offer, but she still wasn't _sure._ He wanted to go down to Chicago and help her find a home, but she thought mostly that he wanted to spend time with Charlotte.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Rick's voice. She breathed in deeply and turned around. He wasn't in his police uniform any longer, for obvious reasons. Neither he, nor Cece, needed to wear their uniforms when they weren't on the job. He was wearing a white T-shirt, which did wonders for his arms, and a pair of brown pants. She'd been ignoring the attraction towards him for a while now, she was afraid of those kind of feelings, and refused to consider them. "Everyone's downstairs playing a game of Jeopardy, you sure you don't feel like joining in?"

"Pretty sure…I just wanted some time to think." She smoothed her hair back and floated to the edge of her bed. She looked up at him as he leaned against the wall and folded his arms over. His bold eyes were studying her, giving away his concern for her, just like Cece. "It's just hard, all of this. I left my family behind, just like PJ, and after all these years…it feels like it was only just yesterday that we saw each other."

"You did see each other yesterday." He smirked and she rolled her eyes, stifling a laugh. "I know what you mean though." He pushed himself from the wall and started walking towards her. "He's your brother, your closest relative. There's a bond in there that won't ever be severed. My brother's stationed all the way across the globe in China, we only see each other once a year at best. Whenever we meet up, it never _feels_ like it's been a long time. That's how family should be, and that's how it is between siblings." Her lips turned up and she let her eyes drift towards the floor. "Is that what's bothering you?"

"No. I'm glad for it, Rick. Shocked, but happy, and I'm happy that Charlotte's happy." She could hardly fathom it, but Charlotte seemed happier than she'd ever been. Her experience in Denver, her meeting her family, whatever it was that made that girl so happy, Teddy was grateful for. "My baby's happy, and that makes me happy, obviously. Then again, I don't know that it's possible for a mother _not_ to be happy when her child's happy."

His laugh was deep and quiet, strange music for her ears. "Of course, it's impossible. Now that's a bond even stronger than siblings." She felt something inside of her that she couldn't explain. What was it, gratitude? Joy? Whatever the feeling was, it was creating a warmth inside of her that had been there for a while. Perhaps it was just a piece of her life coming back together.

As for Rick, she appreciated him, along with Cece. He didn't judge her, having a child with her own brother. Most people would, and have, turned her away because of that. "Yeah, can I just…Thank you, Rick." He raised an eyebrow and smiled softly. Her fingers dug into the comforter and her lip tucked beneath her front teeth. "Thank you for not judging me, for not judging Charlotte. You honestly don't know how much that means to me, and to her of course."

"I understand-"

"No you really don't." She lifted her head up and met his eyes. "You really don't know how _great_ that is. Back when I was a teenager, this guy I dated…a real prick…told a friend of his, who told the entire school, and everyone just attacked me." Rick frowned and slowly sat beside her. He clasped his hands together and leaned forward.

"Now that's something I don't understand, but I've seen it a million times, how people can do something like that to another person. The thing is, we're all human, and we make decisions based off of what we know or what we're thinking. I've learned there's no such thing as 'mistake', 'good', or 'bad'. There are only actions and reactions, then there's how people perceive and deal with those actions or reactions. I don't know your story, but from what I understand, you and your brother did something based off your family's actions, along with the actions of people you talked to. You reacted accordingly. People judged, reacted negatively, and so you and PJ reacted by leaving that life behind you. We can only do what we feel is best, and that's what you two felt was best. I see nothing wrong with any of it. I try my best not to judge people, if it can be avoided, because in all honesty…it's just in human nature to do things according with what we're thinking or feeling."

She smiled and turned her head away from him. Her cheeks burned for a few seconds and her heart started to swell. She'd never looked at it that way before, but he made a lot of sense. She wasn't a bad person, she wasn't a monster or even a demon. She was _human_. Maybe she'd not seen that in all these years, but at least with this in mind, she could come to terms with it. She closed her eyes as a small chuckle escaped her lips.

"Thank you." He lifted his head up for a second and sighed, smiling still.

"Well, that's a bit of my wisdom for you." She laughed once and shifted to his gaze. "You still want to sit up here by yourself? I think everyone wants you to join the game. Besides, Cece and I need to return to work tomorrow, boss's orders, so she'd definitely like to spend some time with you."

"Yeah…yeah I'll be right down. I've just been throwing around PJ's offer, it's kind of difficult for me to accept it, but…he has a valid point."

"I'd agree, I think my partner agrees too." She chuckled and swept her hair from her face. She _wanted_ to accept PJ's help. Skyler and the kids would be coming along as well, so he'd have to take a few days from his own job. It wasn't so bad, considering the high school had let out, he wasn't taking summer courses at the college, and guitar lessons were only on weekends. "It's some time to spend with your brother after all these years, you get some money in your own bank, and you get a better apartment. The way I see it, that's three positives in one, so how could you turn it down?"

She rubbed her knees and sighed. He was right, of course. In her heart, she simply could not turn her brother down, he was doing this out of the kindness of his heart after all. "I can't…"

"Yeah…So I'll head back down there and let everyone know you're coming down?" Her eyes brightened and she quickly nodded her head, thanking him for the talk.

"I'll be down in a few minutes."

"Great."

Charlotte stood beside the bedroom door in the hall outside. Her eyes wide were and joyful, and her hands covering a broad grin. She'd been coming up to check on her mom, but stopped short when she heard the conversation going on. She watched Rick leave and head down the stairs and sought to contain her excitement.

She'd never seen or heard her mom in such a shape when talking to someone else, another man at least. Another thing she'd never seen before, such _chemistry_ between her mom and another guy. Already the gears inside her head were spinning like crazy! Her mom would never go on a date by herself, but she couldn't stay single forever, and this was just the sort of thing Charlotte had been looking for. Her mom needed a push of some sort, she deserved to be _happy_ again.

With great jubilee, Charlotte spun into the room. Teddy was standing up and dusting off her pants. She looked to her daughter with a joyous laugh. "You seem bubbly this evening, sweetie."

"Oh I am!" She ran for her mom and threw her arms around her. "I love you Momma." Teddy hugged her and rested a hand on the back of her head, kissing the top of her head gently.

"I love you too."

"I've had the most fun with Tyler, Lucy, and Zach. You wouldn't believe the craziness. There's a _huge_ yard out there! We were playing hide and seek, tag, and many other games."

"Oh? I'm glad to hear that. I hope you weren't overexerting yourself."

"Don't worry Momma, I wasn't." Simple running and activity really didn't cause her any problems when it came to her heart. She'd actually talked to Skyler about it and was told that activity would _strengthen_ her heart. "Skyler says one day I probably wouldn't even _have_ to be on medication! That my heart will get stronger!"

"That's great news. I'll take it, considering she probably knows what she's talking about."

"Yeah…" She'd been having such a good time lately that she'd completely forgotten about her laptop. She wanted to tell Toby how much fun she was having, along with the fact that she'd forgotten her cell phone. It could likely wait until later. "Oh, and I heard you talking to _Rick_." She let his name roll off her tongue, wagging her eyebrows suggestively. Teddy arched an eyebrow and pulled back, studying her.

"So? I talk to him quite a bit, your point?"

"I just wanted to point it out. You seem happy after talking to him, that's unusual. I like it." Teddy reached up and put a hand to her red cheek, it amazed Charlotte to see her mom's blush still there. Hell, her mother was _glowing_, but that glow had been there since seeing PJ and Skyler, but it seemed even greater now. Teddy lowered her arm and sighed, stepping back and doing a half spin in place.

"Well honestly, I am happy. I'm always happy, though, you make me happy sweetie."

"I know, but not like you've _been_. You're glowing, Momma. You're happier than you've been, is it because you've reunited with your brother?"

"Maybe…I don't know really. I'm happy to see him again, Skyler too, and I'll admit…the conversation with Rick did make me feel good." Charlotte smirked and stopped herself before she cheered. "I never thought about it, but…maybe getting back with my brother isn't a bad thing. I'm just not used to it, it's been me and you all these years." She heard the doorbell ring and glanced back for a second, then back to her mother, not concerning herself with the bell.

"It is going to be a good thing, Momma. I promise." Teddy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked up at the door.

"I just worry…I don't know, I don't want you to think you don't make me happy, because you do. You _always_ have and always will."

"I know Momma." She hugged her tight and relaxed her body. "I want you to be happy. Seeing your brother again makes you happy, being a family again makes you happy, don't throw that away…"

"I won't do that."

"Promise?" Teddy laughed and kissed her forehead.

"I _promise_."

Charlotte bounced and let go of her, she was truly thankful for those words. Before she could react, PJ's voice called for them. There was a sense of urgency and shock, which concerned them. They rushed from the room and started down the steps. Her mom froze on the last step and Charlotte took a few more steps before stopping.

Standing there in the doorway beside PJ was a man with shaggy brown hair and beady brown eyes. Beside that man was a beautiful woman with wavy brown curls framing her face, and a young girl with long brown pigtails. She looked back at Teddy, who was frozen in shock, her eyes were wide and glazed over.

"Momma?"

"G-Gabe…"

"What?" She looked back at the man with wide eyes and felt a jolt of electricity shooting along her arms. _This_ was _Gabe_? "Uncle Gabe?!"

* * *

Seems like the detective's a pretty good person, let me know what you think of the chapter.


	25. Restoring the Sibling Bonds

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 25 (Restoring the Sibling Bonds)

"PJ…Teddy…I can't believe I found you." Gabe breathed in one long, painful breath. His chest was aching and his eyes were burning. Seeing both of his siblings after all these years was more overwhelming than he thought it was going to be. He had a difficult time accepting and trying to find them, but Jo's support was really what mattered to him. He was stunned when he saw PJ's home from the outside, and the inside was just as overwhelming. Right now, what seemed to hit him the most, was seeing PJ, Teddy, and Charlie all in one place. "I-I'm surprised to see all of you here."

"Where do I begin?" PJ asked, finally recovering from his own shock. Gabe studied him as he pointed his thumb over his shoulder and spoke with a slow, calm voice. "Charlotte wanted to meet me, undermining her mother, got on the wrong bus while her mom found me. Now…at the risk of sounding heartless, how did you find me?" He probably ought to apologize for showing up randomly at his brother's home. "Give me a minute to process what's going on here."

"I'm a detective, PJ. I uh…just graduated a couple years ago, decided to track you and Teddy down." He looked over at the couch where three young children were sitting and kicking their feet in the air. Skyler was standing in the center of the room. There were two other people in the room, both were leaving in opposite directions, leaving only the siblings in the same room. He looked down at his daughter and smiled as she gazed innocently about the room. "This is my daughter, Jenny." Jenny looked up at him as PJ and Teddy started for the door.

"You have a beautiful daughter," Teddy stated. Her voice was soft and quiet, almost timid. He beamed with pride as Jenny started asking about the two. "Gabe, the children over there…Tyler's the oldest, Lucy's the middle, and Zachary's the youngest. They're all PJ's and Skyler's." He never knew he was an uncle, and it was a letdown. He couldn't understand how his two siblings could never try to contact him.

Jenny started dancing into the room, soon joined by the three children. Charlotte looked at the three, as though she wanted to speak, but now wasn't the best time. She looked to all her cousins and led them into the backyard with her.

Jo walked over to Skyler and moved towards the kitchen with the woman. He appreciated the gestures, but at the same time, didn't want to be left alone with Teddy and PJ. He was still scared as hell. There was an awkward silence as he tried to swallow the emotions that scratched at his throat. "This is…a lot…"

PJ glanced over his shoulder and motioned to the couch. "Let's have a seat over here." The trio moved for the couch and took their seats, Gabe was immediately stunned by the silky texture. "It's great to see you again, Gabe, honestly." He scoffed once and closed his eyes.

"I've never been angry with you guys, I understand_ why_ exactly you left, but just…why couldn't you keep in touch?" His siblings frowned as he lifted his head. He'd already done the background check on PJ, he knew what job the man had. He'd prepared himself for the possibility of entering into a luxurious home, or at least he attempted to do that. "I'm…I was left back there with those two parents of ours. You don't even _know_ how hard that was on me. After all this time, I look into everything, I find out Teddy's been working as a stripper!"

"Those days are over," Teddy bowed her head and lifted her shoulders. "I'm sorry I never tried to contact you, Gabe. I just…I-I think I was afraid. It's no excuse, I know…"

"And I got caught up in studies," PJ commented. He rubbed the back of his neck and groaned. "I know it's not much of an excuse. I wanted to give you a call when I got up here, but it was just too hard. Skyler's parents helped us start studying and so I buried myself in my work…buried myself into college…getting my doctorate so I can be a college professor. Then Skyler and I started a family, one thing led to another, thirteen years passed by…then Teddy shows up at my door saying Charlotte was missing."

He raised his eyebrows up and quickly looked at Teddy, concern filled his heart and the awkwardness of the situation was swept away. "Charlie went missing? What happened?"

"She got it in her idea that she wanted to see PJ," she explained slowly. "When I said no, she disobeyed me and left anyway." Gabe stifled a laugh, which earned him a glare from his older sister. "What is so funny?"

"I'm sorry, nothing's funny about that, it's just…She's a troublemaker just like her mother, huh?" Teddy flattened her glare and crossed her arms as PJ began to snicker. "I'm sorry, continue…"

"Right. Well I came up here, but it turned out she hopped on the wrong bus and went to Denver instead." He coughed and hit his chest. She'd gone to _Denver_? Did he hear correct? He met her gaze and waited for her to continue her story. "I guess somehow she ran into Ivy's nephew, because when I called Ivy, she was there with her." His eyes began to grow and his lips parted like a fish mouth. "Ivy put her on the plane, and here we are. She met a few friends, so that's a plus."

"I'm impressed, and shocked. I don't live in Denver anymore, personally…I've moved to Trinidad." Teddy furrowed her brow and PJ tilted his head towards the right. "I couldn't stand being around Mom and Dad, always depressed. I know I left Toby back there, so I can't really say anything to you guys about you leaving…I'm just as guilty to doing that to a sibling that depended on me."

"How is Toby?" PJ asked. "Mom and Dad as well? How are they?" Gabe frowned in an instant. Did they not hear? Somehow they were never notified?

"Toby's fine, Mom's a depressed wreck, but Dad…He um…" His hands clenched shut and his jaw locked, he hated having to tell them this. He'd done it a million times, informing next of kin about the passing of their relatives, but not like this, never like this. "Dad killed himself…" They gasped and gawked at him. It looked like they wanted to say something, to react, but they remained silent. PJ slowly bowed his head while Teddy started flinching. Their already misty eyes grew wetter, joining his bitter tears. "It's hard to think about, and I'm sorry to throw it on you like this."

"When. When was it? How did it happen?"

"It was shortly after I left for college. I thought maybe somehow you two would have been notified…" He was fishing for something, but only felt a bit of sorrow when his siblings shook their heads. "I see. Then, it isn't your fault, but I guess things got worse after that. Mom retired, she's getting a pension, and she became pretty much reclusive." Not to mention she was also getting money in regards to Bob's death. "Would it have mattered? If you knew…would it have changed anything?" The two bowed their heads, guilty faces shone through. He clicked his tongue and turned his eyes away. He didn't think they would have shown up anyhow. "That's what I thought. You know, when you two left, Mom and Grandma stopped talking."

"I don't particularly care about that old woman," Teddy sniped. She was referring to Grandma Petunia, no doubt. "I'm not fond of my mother either."

"She stood up for you, Teddy. She did."

"Why did you stay away from her?"

"I don't know. Guilt." He shrugged his shoulders and exhaled slowly. "When I left, I couldn't _stand_ the depression. I couldn't take it, and I started drinking a bit when I turned twenty one." Their eyes grew and Gabe lifted his shoulders, scoffing slightly. "Trust me, I'm not a drunkard or an alcoholic. I wouldn't let myself become one, nor would Jo." His heart began swelling as he gazed to the backdoor, it was open and the children were laughing gaily. It made him think of his second child on the way. "Jo's giving me my second child, a son. She's due to give birth in November." His siblings lit up with joy and PJ pointed to his wife.

"Skyler's pregnant as well. She's due in December." Teddy chuckled and rolled her head to the side.

"So both of you have pregnant wives? Man, the Duncan men really can't keep to themselves can they?" She teased them with a smirk, which led to all three of them laughing. Their minds went to their father, and the fact that Bob and Amy had four children together. "God I've missed you boys over the years."

"I've missed you guys more than you know," Gabe remarked. "What are you doing with your life, Teddy? You said you're not working the strip clubs anymore, so what are you doing now?" Teddy beamed and bounced in her seat.

"Well! I'm actually a waitress now. Not as impressive as say, a _detective_, professor or _doctor_, for that matter, but I did my best." He had to admire that statement. After all, he often believed it was in the effort, not the results. At least she worked to have a better life for her and for her daughter, rather than letting her burdens rule her. In that sense, he couldn't be prouder of her. "I'm going back to college, my daughter is on _Shake it Up_, and PJ just decided he's going to help me pay for a new house."

"Oh?"

"Yes. You're welcome to come help me find a place and get it all set up. I'd love to spend some time with you guys again…if we could all be a family." PJ rubbed her back and Gabe smiled, clapping his hands together between his knees. There was no question about it, he'd love to spend time with his siblings again, and never would he lose touch with them again.

"I've got the next week off from work, personal leave. I'd love nothing more to be with you, to be a family again." All the pieces were falling back into place, he could feel it. That hole in his chest was closing, the cracks were fading away. "So…are we okay? Siblings again?"

"Yeah."

"We're golden," PJ answered. He opened his arms wide and grinned at them, motioning his hands inwards. "Come on, sibling hug? For old time's sake?" Teddy laughed heartily and Gabe beamed for joy. The trio moved in for a tear-filled hug. It seemed too much like a dream, but it was worth it, and if it _was _a dream, Gabe did not wish to wake from it.

In the doorway, Charlotte stood, a tearful expression on her face. Behind her stood her cousins, watching on with the same happiness, all seemed to understand a bond was being restored. "Momma's happy, Uncle Gabe and…'Uncle' PJ are happy." She couldn't believe her ears when she heard that her grandfather had killed himself. It reminded her of Toby, his father killed himself as well. It hurt that she would never see her grandfather, but at the very least, she was happy knowing her Mom and Uncles were together once more. Even if she'd brought them together by accident, or by undermining her mother, she didn't regret it one bit. "So worth it, more than anyone knows."

* * *

Tearful reunion it seems, what are your thoughts on how it went?


	26. Breathe New Hope

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 26 (Breathe New Hope)

Toby's head shot up from the desk, daylight was pouring down on him through the window. When he glanced in its direction, the light stabbed his eyes, causing him to fall back. He let out a small groan and shakily rose to his feet. He looked at his computer, Skype was open, but Charlotte _still_ hadn't been on. He knew she'd gone back to New York, Mason told him. It was a shame he'd missed her, but in the last few days, he'd hoped she would get online. It was possible her mother grounded her from the computer, so he had to be patient, as difficult as that may be.

"Still not online…" He rubbed his eye and groaned, how had he fallen asleep at the computer? It wasn't normal, but it _had_ been a long night. His mom hadn't gone to sleep at all, and he'd spent whatever time his mom _wasn't_ doing something, getting online and messing around while waiting to see if Charlotte would ever get online. "What time is it?" His eyes adjusted fully to the daylight and moved to the clock at the corner of the screen. "Half past noon? I half the day away! Geez…"

It shocked him that his mother hadn't come to check on him like she usually did, she rarely let him sleep so late if he didn't get up himself. Not to mention she would have tried to get him to move over to the bed. Perhaps he should check on her, she'd been rather quiet lately. He left his room in a bit of a rush and descended the steps, finding his mom watching the television. "Hey Mom, what's up?" Amy slowly looked over to him, smiling faintly.

"Hey Toby…I'm sorry I didn't wake you, it's been a bad morning." He frowned and hurried over to sit beside her. Whatever it was, he wanted to try and fix it if he could. "We may have to move, Toby." He froze, his heart screeched to a halt and his eyes started widening. Why would they _move?_ What was she _thinking_? "There are too many memories in this house, but that's not really the reason I think we should go…Someone came showed up this morning, someone from many years ago." She closed her eyes and started choking on her words. Toby leaned forward, resting his hand on his mom's shoulder.

"What do you mean? Who? Is it someone I know?"

"No, not at all…He 'heard' your father passed on eight years ago and found me, wanted to offer his condolences." She seemed very shaken up, so something terrible must have happened to her, and he was _asleep!_ It was his job to protect his mom, he was the last kid left. Amy took a deep breath and started to smile. "Anyway, Mommy pushed him out the door. Everything's locked, windows shut, so I want you to stay inside from here on, okay?"

"Mom…"

"Listen to me Toby. Just stay inside until I figure out what we're going to do." He put his head to her shoulder, opting to not argue with her. He felt a sickening feeling creeping up inside, what was he to do? Amy swept her eyes with her finger and slowly stood from the couch, glancing tirelessly about the room. "I'm…I'm going to make breakfast and maybe call mom."

"What? _Grandma_? Why would you call her?" Hell, _he_ never spoke to the woman, Amy never let him. She never told him anything about her besides the fact that she was a very judgmental woman who played a big hand in running his siblings off. "Are you serious?"

"I don't know, maybe I want more abuse after all these years. Let her tell me I put myself out there again." She waved her hands in the air and quickly walked towards the kitchen. With a heavy heart, he slowly guided his eyes towards the windows. The curtains were all shut, the television was extremely quiet, and the door's lock was turned sideways. Not to mention the chain lock was in use as well, _something_ freaked his mom out, but it could have been a number of things. These days, he could never really tell. He sighed and started towards the kitchen. He couldn't believe the drama started already and he'd only just woken up.

He watched his mother move back and forth from the sink and the refrigerator, working furiously to make some food. "All right…I'm going downstairs to play my game. Will you be okay Mom?" She looked up and tucked her hair back.

"Of course, I'll come find you when I'm done here." He nodded and quickly moved into the basement. Thoughts of moving were far from his mind, considering he just couldn't picture spending any amount of time away from Regina or Mason. It wouldn't be _right_ leaving them. Although he could understand his mom's depression over the many memories their home held. If they _did_ move, hopefully it wouldn't be anywhere far without good reason.

Once he made it to the couch downstairs, he started thinking about the past several days. Didn't he add Charlotte's number into his phone? He'd forgotten that he could call her! He hadn't wanted to call her when she gave him the number, since he didn't want to seem like he'd bother her, but now that he was well aware who she was, calling her was the best bet.

He pulled his phone from his pocket and began scanning his address book. When he found her number, he pressed 'call' and put the phone to his ear. Eagerness and anticipation began pouring into him, though he had no clue what he was going to say to her. _Hi, I'm your Uncle?_ No, he couldn't say that. _I just realized you're my sibling's child!_ No, he couldn't start off a conversation that way _either_.

As the number rang, he became incredibly disheartened. Somewhere in the room, a musical tune was playing. Fearfully, he moved his eyes to the end table where he saw a cord underneath that ran under the couch. "Oh no…please don't tell me…" Had she forgotten her phone? Seriously? He reached under the phone and cupped his hands around a cell phone, confirming his fears. He slowly flipped off his own phone and pulled Charlotte's cell out, muttering to himself. "I think it's charged up now…great."

He opened her phone up and saw several missed calls, quite a few from her mother. Above the 'missed call' alert was her display photo, a snapshot of her with her mother. A faint smile grew on his lips as he turned his attention to the stairs. "Maybe I should tell Mom now…she'd feel better at least." At least he hoped that would be the case. Of course they'd have to return her phone to her, so again, maybe she'd know what to do.

He hurried up the steps and jerked to a halt when he heard his mother sobbing. In the kitchen, Amy was on her knees, her legs were curled inwards, and her hand was balled in front of her. Toby put his hand to her shoulder and knelt beside her. "Mom? Are you okay?" Amy screamed and quickly fell back from him, staring at him with wide eyes. He flinched and lifted his hands up defensively. "Mom, it's me, Toby. You know, your son?" Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, she had her hand over her chest and was drenched with sweat. "Mom?"

"T-Toby?" She clenched her eyes shut and carefully rose to her feet, grasping the counter with a strong death grip. He moved to help her up, but stopped when she moved her hand in the air. "I'm fine. Don't touch me right now…" He watched her sadly and nodded his head as she moved to her feet and flipped her hair over her shoulder. She took a deep breath and cleared her throat. "Is your video game not working?"

"No that's not it…" Her depression had been bad like this all his life, but really it became worse when his father died. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine honey." She feigned a strong smile and moved towards the table. "Mama Bear's still strong as ever." His eyebrows rose and he slowly lifted Charlotte's phone, he was really not sure if it would be good to tell her _now_. If she was in this mood, would it make her feel worse to know Charlotte had been here at some point? He had to risk it.

"Um, you remember I said I met a girl from Chicago?" She nodded and moved her hand to her temple, breathing out a relaxed sigh. "Well, there's more, really." He slowly sat beside her and set the cell phone on the table. Amy's eyes drifted to it and her lips turned down into a thin line. "She forgot her phone when she left. I think her mom had her fly back, she's probably back in Chicago by now."

"Oh? Did you happen to get her address? Can we mail it back to her?" He shut his eyes and leaned forward on the table.

"There's more than that, Mom. I've known her a bit longer, through my online gaming." Amy parted her lips and shot him a scolding look. She'd always told him to never meet someone he met online, much less invite them into their _home_. He leaned back and lifted his hands before she could scold him. "Hear me out though. She met Regina and Dee first at the library. She meant to go to New York when her mom told her 'no', got on the wrong bus…She, Regina and Dee called me over, and that's what happened."

"Okay…but you know _better_. I'm just glad she was who she said she was."

"Oh yeah, she is…and there's something more…" She raised a suspicious eyebrow and followed his gaze to the phone. "I didn't know this until after she already _left_, but…open the phone up…" He pointed to the device and Amy carefully followed the instruction. She gasped in shock when she saw the background photo of Teddy and Charlotte. He moved his hands to his knees and slid them across his pants, trying to wipe away the sweaty palms.

"T-Teddy? Charlie?" Amy's eyes glazed over and a sob left her lips. Her hand flew over her mouth. "You mean…"

"She doesn't know either. She lives in Chicago now. She wanted to go to New York to meet her father-"

"PJ! Oh god…" Yes, that would be the truth. Her finger traced Teddy's face and her sob increased. "My baby…" He really wanted to meet them, and surely she would too, but would she even go for it? "You said she didn't know?"

"Not a clue. I think if she did know, I'm not sure what would have happened really." He wasn't prepared to tell her everything Charlotte had told him. He didn't think he could betray her trust like that, even though Teddy _was_ his sister. It would still be a bad idea. "Do you…think it's worth searching her out? I mean…it's my _family_." Amy's hands began shaking as tears dripped from her chin.

"Teddy would never…ever talk to me."

"But Mom, you _need_ them. No offense, I love you, but you're always moping around and crying about them being gone, and it _kills_ me. Especially since I want to see them just as much as you, I've never known them."

Amy sighed and lifted the phone up, gripping it firmly in the air. "You don't know her address?"

"No. All I know is she's in Chicago, but she dances on that show, _Shake it Up_." Amy's eyes sparked with recognition, her lips curled upwards as she lowered the phone. "Charlotte told me that Rocky and Cece really helped them out of a rough spot several years ago. Rocky's her dance instructor."

"Rocky? As in Rocky Blue and Cece Jones from _Shake it Up_?"

"Yeah, though Cece married that twin." Amy slowly turned to the phone, staring at it for several minutes. He could see she wanted to leave, to get out of this infernal house, and of course he couldn't blame her. Whatever freaked her out this morning, whoever it was that showed up, might come back around. "What are you thinking about, Mom?" The life was returning to her eyes, determination filled her spirit.

"I'm thinking about a vacation. My children hate me, but…it's worth a shot to talk to them, right?"

"Worth a shot."

* * *

Amy's gone through a lot, and apparently someone or something freaked her out. What do you make of all this?


	27. Feels like Home

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 27 (Feeling Like Home)

Charlotte spun on the dance floor with several other dancers that were swaying as though a flower opening up in full bloom. Rocky was watching the choreography with a pleased smile, rehearsal was going very well. Charlotte was happy to be there, no offense to her family of course. PJ, Gabe, and her mother were moving items from the old apartment to a newer, larger apartment with three full bedrooms. Two of which were right next to each other, the third was a guest room. The living room was larger and the apartment actually had a kitchen where the table was able to fit! She was happy about the new place, but thought the moving process was boring as hell. Gabe and PJ were actually helping to fix up the place. As for her mother, PJ had put about fifty grand in the bank for the two of them! Of course, they hadn't seen that kind of money in _ages_. He informed them to not spend it all, save it for emergencies.

What she hadn't realized until it was brought up, was the apartment they rented used to belong to Gunther Hessenheffer's family. They'd moved from that apartment ages ago. The Hessenheffers, minus Gunther of course, had moved back to their home country of Sviederbach about six years ago. She didn't know why that was, but never bothered to ask. The family still kept in constant communication. Cece said something once about Tinka taking her grandfather's place, but she didn't know what that meant. Of course they visited regularly; Rocky's brother was with them.

"Okay everyone, that's a wrap!" Rocky called out, clapping her hands together. Everyone broke apart and Charlotte started stretching, bending forward and reaching for the ground. Rocky walked up to her. "Charlotte, you'd doing good, but you need to control your spins a little more." She bent back up and put her hands to her hips, smiling slightly. "You're twisting too much and when you spin, you're leaning a little to the right. If you're not careful, you'll fall over in the middle of the spin." Rocky straightened herself and lifted her hands up to the sides of her chest. "Keep your back straight and aligned." She watched her instructor perform a clean, straight spin, and memorized the move. Spins were always her hardest move to complete, and for this performance, there was a part where she had to do five consecutive spins.

"I got it, I'll work on that." Rocky tossed her the purple water bottle that she'd brought to rehearsal with her. She'd left it by her pack at the door. "Thanks!" She popped the top and took a quick swig of her drink. "Did you know Momma saw her brothers again?" Rocky folded her arms and smirked. Of course she knew, she was working Charlotte harder than the others because of the whole running off thing.

"Yes, and I'm glad she did." Charlotte beamed and bounced happily. Rocky chuckled and started walking off. As she took another swig of her water bottle, two girls came walking up to her. One was an Asian girl with a heart shaped face, long black bangs that fell past her eyes and framed her face, and black hair that swept her shoulders. The other girl was tall, had a long face and soft brown hair that feathered out at her waist. Both were great dancers on the show and often tried to talk to her, but she usually shied away from them. After Denver, she wasn't doing that here.

With a cordial smile she turned towards them and lowered her water. "Hey Kimi, hey Violet, what's up?"

"Wanted to say you were great during rehearsal," Kimi put her hands behind her back and rose on her toes for a second. She was always overly perky while Violet had a tendency to be more serious and laid back. "You missed Monday's rehearsal, we were wondering if you were okay."

"I'm good, thanks. I met my Uncles." Their eyebrows rose as she started walking for her backpack. The girls followed behind, both eager to hear more. She never knew why they were so adamant about being her friends, but ever since she started on the show, they never stopped asking her to spend some time with them. She assumed it was just due to them being a part of that welcoming committee, but she never asked. Not only did she see them at the studio, they also sat together in her homeroom class, usually they would want to talk to her, but she never got involved with them. They were good people too, she'd just been afraid of having friends, that was all. "Mom told me I can look for a new puppy while she and my uncles fix up our new apartment, so…I can tell you all about everything if you want to come along?"

Violet was shocked and Kimi brightened even more than before. It scared Charlotte just a little bit, but she could get used to it. "Really?" Violet asked. She picked up her backpack and looked back at the two with a smile.

"Yeah, I realize I shouldn't be worried about having friends, so why not? I don't know why you've been so persistent about befriending _me_, but I'm glad." The girls smiled and quickly followed her out the door.

When they reached the pound, Charlotte was relatively cheerful. She explained quite a bit to Kimi and Violet, minus certain issues such as her parents being _siblings_, or the fact that her mom had once been a stripper. There were _some_ things she thought were not necessary for her to know. She did admit to having some past issues that led her to be concerned that friends might not stick around long or lose interest in her, so their persistence to be interested in her really did seem to pay off. "Yeah we did wonder why you never hung out with anyone," Violet stated simply, "You don't seem like the loner type."

"I'm really not, and I'm not really shy. I think it's a trust thing. All my life, my best friend's been my mom."

"I guess I can understand that. You and your mom against the world, right?" She nodded and lifted her shoulders. "Everyone needs a friend. Kimi and I won't abandon you. You just need to have faith that friends keep in touch."

"Yeah…" She laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear. "You don't think it's strange of me, sixteen years old and you two being my first real friends?" The two girls looked at each other and shrugged.

"I've seen worse," Kimi replied. "My family moved here from Japan, my brother's _always_ been a loner. He was like ten when we moved here, didn't have a friend to speak of. He's twenty now and _still_ doesn't have anyone he talks to." Charlotte imagined herself in that scenario and winced. It would be a nightmare if she went off to college and didn't have a single friend to speak of. "But to be fair, you said you met someone in Denver that was a friend of yours, right?"

"Toby, yes, he was an online friend. He introduced me to Regina and Mason, both are good people. They're the ones that kind of inspired me into the whole getting a friend thing." She paused and looked up to the doors of the pound. With a heavy sigh, she bowed her head and glanced over. "You're _sure_ you don't think it's pathetic of me?" Kimi and Violet laughed heartily and pat her back, it warmed her to see such genuine people.

"Hey it could be worse," Violet remarked, "Just like Kimi said. We saw a kindred connection in you, that's why we tried to be your friend. I mean, don't get us wrong…we're _kind of_ loners ourselves. I mean, like Kimi said, she moved here when she was five. I moved here from Italy when I was nine, she was the first person _I_ met, and we just stuck together…never really made many other friends. So when we saw you acting the way we did when we moved to a new place, we wanted to talk to you." Charlotte chuckled and folded her arms over, playing at a smirk.

"And you kept that up all these years too? Have to admire that, really."

"Thank you!" Kimi chimed with joyous laughter. "We didn't want you to think we were stalking you or anything, I mean…we just wanted to get to know you."

"I understand." She really liked them, and talking to them was making her extremely happy. If this was what it was like having friends, then she could really get used to it. "Let's go find a dog." She hurried into the pound with them, excited about getting a new pup. New friends, a new dog, a new home, and all on the same day? God, life was really starting to get better for her!

Charlotte returned to her new apartment with her friends and a small golden retriever named Shadow. When they arrived, Gabe and PJ were busy painting the walls while Teddy moved furniture around. Skyler and Jo had taken all the children out for ice cream. "Momma, I'm home!" Teddy stood up from behind the couch and looked her way, smiling cheerfully.

"How was dance? Who are your friends?" She moved around the couch and introduced herself to the two girls. Shadow barked and rushed towards her, so she knelt down and started rubbing vigorously behind his ears, laughing as he licked her face.

"That's Shadow. Also this is Kimi, and she's Violet, they're on _Shake it Up_ as well." Teddy stood up, giving her daughter a look full of pride. PJ walked over and lifted his eyebrows.

"You might want to be careful with the pup, the paint needs to dry."

"Yeah, I know." They were still staying at their old place for a couple more days, so there was plenty of time to let the paint dry. The walls were being painted a very light red color and they were putting down a chestnut carpet. It matched the chestnut colored couch as well as the brown furniture they were bringing in. "Momma, I thought you were going to do some shopping with Aunt Jo and Aunt Skyler?"

"I am, dear," Teddy answered, "But later. When they get back to the hotel, Jo's staying there with the kids and Skyler's going to swing by and pick me up." They were going to be purchasing some more items, such as a china cabinet and some fine china. Mattresses, clothes, and some vital wall décor were among the necessities that Skyler said she was going to have Teddy look for. She wanted to help make this apartment very personalized for her, to _truly_ feel like home. "Are you happy, baby?"

"Yes, Momma, I'm very happy." She hugged her mother tight and looked up. "Do I get to choose how my bedroom looks?"

"Of course, sweetheart. I purchased a five year lease, so this beautiful place is going to be _our_ home. Gabe, Rick, and even Frank are putting in a good word for me at this newspaper company. I _could_ start an internship soon! When Skyler, Jo and I finish getting all the decorating done…which will happen once your uncles, and Rick, are done painting…I think it's going to start feeling like home." Rick was working right now, but he'd taken it upon himself to help out on the moving process. Even the new house wasn't the only good news, Skyler was taking it on herself to find and recommend some good doctors who would provide Charlotte and Teddy with the medical care that they _needed_.

She breathed in deeply and started to close her eyes. This was their _first_ real home. She smiled brightly and took a step back, almost letting a tear come to her eyes. She looked to Violet and Kimi, who were playing with Shadow. Her gaze turned to her Uncles, standing with their arms over each other's shoulders. They were wearing white T-Shirts and blue jeans, covered in paint. The place was lit up with sunlight coming in from the windows, and her body filled with unmistakable warmth.

"It already feels like home, Momma."

* * *

Your thoughts?


	28. Fighting the Fears

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 28 (Fighting the Fears)

_"Hello Amy, I'm sorry to hear the news about Bob and the kids…let me offer my condolences."_ Amy woke in a cold sweat, screaming aloud. Where was she? It was Wednesday, July 2nd, and she was on a plane. Her tense body relaxed only when she felt Toby's hand on hers. Safe, she was safe. She looked to him with a smile, pleased with how much concern he had for her. When it came to her nightmares, she was always happy to know they weren't real, and she still had her son with her. Even_ if_ he was all she had left. Never did she want to lose him, not like she did the others.

She loved every one of them, and regretted her life more and more when they left. When Bob took his life, it hit her the hardest. He'd been her solid rock, her _protector_ for many years. He was the one to count on, to depend on, and she loved him. Many times she wanted to take her own life, but he stopped her from doing so every single time. Then when he died, she came so close to ending everything. Her own daughter, her sons, they hated her. What use would she be alive? Then she thought of Toby, sweet Toby, and realized that he needed his mommy growing up. _He_ became her rock. She couldn't take her life when he still counted on her, and she never wanted to make the same mistake with him, she never wanted to run him off.

Now she had a chance to make things right after all these years. She didn't care if they hated her, if they wanted nothing to do with her, she just had to _try_. She loved her children, she missed her baby more than life itself, and the only reason she'd managed to survive all these years was her own son. _"Fuck my mother…she ruined my life."_ Amy put her fingers to her temples and felt Toby squeeze her hand. "Toby, are we there yet?" Her voice was groggy, as though someone had shoved something down her throat. "I'm having a terrible nightmare, and really, I just want to find my children…"

"We're in Chicago now, Mom. Don't worry about those nightmares, they're not real, and you know it." Oh if only he knew, but then, he was too young to be worried about the demons that plagued her heart and mind. "So, we're going to the _Shake it Up_ studio, right?"

"Yes." They'd found the address on the website, and even watched a few videos. She was impressed and proud to see Charlotte dancing on the stage.

"Teddy and Charlie have lived here for a few years now. Their life before Chicago's been pretty hectic, to be honest." What happened before Chicago? What did he know? She wanted to ask, but she suspected that whatever he was told had been said in confidence. "It can be hard for someone as young as Teddy was when she left, to find good work…that's all I'm going to say."

"I understand." She prayed her little girl hadn't done anything or gotten herself hurt somehow over the years, her worst nightmare was for Teddy to have to suffer what she'd suffered. Most likely, she would never have to suffer from Petunia again, and that was a great positive.

When they reached the studio, Amy was hit with a bout of nostalgia. It was a pleasant memory for her, one of the firsts that she had in so long. "When we were last here, Toby, we got caught up pretending to be these famous Duncan sisters. It didn't help that we couldn't dance." She laughed and shed a tear. Those days of wanted to be a rising star, wanting the spotlight, they were gone. She didn't care about having the attention any longer, and why should she? "If only you knew."

"I have some Idea, Mom." He smiled at her and started moving about the studio. To Amy, it didn't look a bit different. Although there was a picture of the last host that was on the wall beside the entrance. _Gary Wilde_, from what the website said, he moved on to greener pastures. As she marveled about the place, Toby returned to her side. "I didn't find Miss Blue in the office. There are only a couple people here right now."

"Did you ask where we could find Rocky?" She moved to the group of teens standing around the office door. They looked nice, harmless, and looked at her with polite expressions. The oldest looking teen, a girl with auburn hair up in a ponytail, stepped forward, her jade eyes glistening in the light. "Hi, I'm looking for your instructor, Miss Blue, do you know where she might be?"

"Actually Rocky is at Crusty's with Mrs. Hessenheffer. Rehearsal's done for the day." Amy thanked them and started to ask for directions. "The big Crusty's restaurant on South Barker Street…You go out the door, go left towards Rodgers Boulevard, take a left and keep driving until you hit Barker. Turn right onto that street, after a couple miles you'll see the sign for Crusty's, you can't miss it."

"Thank you so much!" Thankfully she was good at taking directions.

"You're welcome. We're closing up for Miss Blue, so you just caught us before we left."

"Lucky." She laughed and hurried out the door. They weren't going to miss their chance. Rocky would know where Teddy and Charlotte would be, she _had_ to know. Toby said she was one of Teddy's best friends now. When they returned to their dusty rental car parked out front, she had a thought. "Wouldn't they just be in a phone book?"

"Doubt it, PJ's not listed in any phone directories up in New York."

"You've looked?"

"Yeah online, same for Gabe, they're both unlisted." Her heart was breaking still, but she opted to remain ever strong and vigilant. If that was at all possible for her anymore, which she didn't _think_ it was. She understood that Gabe was a detective, it made _sense_ that he would be unlisted. He would put away a lot of criminals that he didn't need finding him, no self respecting detective or police officer is going to risk listing their addresses or phone numbers anywhere. "Are we going to try to contact them, Mom?"

"I don't know honey. I want to, so much, but…they may want even less to be around me than Teddy does. If that's possible." She had to stop feeling sorry for herself, but in all honesty, she simply couldn't do that. Not when she blamed herself for everything that went wrong in her life. Why shouldn't she? Her mother did. Her mother blamed her for _everything_, even things that had never been her own damned fault! Her father avoided the whole issue for most of her life, so she rarely saw or heard from him, and he'd passed on over the years. He died in 2022, Petunia was the last of all the parents that was still among the living.

The drive to Crusty's was quiet, but they found the place. It was a large building with a row of round pizzas that lined the top like a border. When they went inside, a waiter pointed them towards Rocky and Cece, who were seated at a back table with bowls of soup and some glasses filled with water. The two looked up at them. "How can we help you?" Rocky asked.

"Um yeah, I don't know if you know me…" Amy took a deep breath, hesitating to say anything. She was terrified of them for some reason, or maybe she was terrified of their reactions. Whatever it was that was frightening her, she just needed to buck up. "I'm looking for Teddy Duncan…Does she work here?"

"She's off work this week," Cece answered. "What do you need her for?"

"I wanted to talk to her. See, her daughter came to Denver and left her cell phone, but we didn't have any way to mail it." Toby held the phone up and Cece glanced at it for a second, and then tore her gaze back to the two.

"Teddy and Charlotte are in the middle of a move right now, moving into a larger apartment. I can take you there if it's important."

"It's very important. Could you?" Cece looked to Rocky, who shrugged her shoulders. After a minute, she took one last sip of her water and rose to her feet.

"All right, let's get going. You can explain to me who you are on the way there…"

"Thank you!"

Reaching the apartment was no easy task, the emotions Amy had been going through were indescribable. She'd been feeling nauseous, then overjoyed, back to wanting to throw up, tearful, and scared. All of these struck at once when they made it to the door, and she thought she was going to collapse right there in the hallway. She couldn't even knock on the door, too petrified to even move, so Toby had to do the job.

Once the door opened, she was blown away with tears. Charlotte was standing wide-eyed with a beautiful purple shirt and jeans. Her hair was in curls at her shoulders, and her bright eyes stunned Amy to a stammering fit. "Toby, what are you doing here?" Charlotte asked in a quiet voice.

"You forgot your phone," Toby replied.

"I know, I haven't been able to get online." The two exchanged the phone and Charlotte led them inside. "I'm not sure how mom's going to feel about you being here, she's not home right now." Amy wanted to faint on the spot, how could Teddy _not_ be home? All this running around, all this searching, but at least she found where they were. "You realize you could have called Momma from the address book, right? She would have told you where to mail the phone."

"Yeah, about that…"

"I've kind of already figured it out. When I told Uncle Gabe about you, and about the house, he told me who you were…" Amy gasped and Toby's eyes started to grow. When inside, Amy loved the warmth of the living room, the colors were remarkable. There was a small puppy curled up on the couch, when Charlotte called for it, the dog got up and playfully ran over to them. "This is Shadow, our new dog."

"He's adorable!"

"I think so." She smiled and knelt down, rubbing the puppy's face and hugging its neck. "Anyway, Momma doesn't know yet, Uncle Gabe and I were only talking about it this morning. She's been out with Aunt Skyler and Aunt Jo." Recovering from her shock, Amy registered the names and felt her heart crushing into pieces.

"T-They've been in contact?"

"Only recently." Charlotte stood up and spread her arms out for a second. "It's kind of my fault for not listening to Mom. I wanted to go to New York and meet PJ, but took the wrong bus. Momma went to him, found him, then Uncle Gabe found us. It's a long story really…I never expected to see my Grandma, but I'm kind of glad to meet you. I know Momma's a bit sensitive when it comes to talking about you, but, I don't think she's happy being away from you…even though she would say otherwise."

"Yeah…"

"You want to see the house? It's not _finished_ yet, but the paint's been put up! Come on, I'll show you the apartment." Charlotte started walking, the puppy followed right beside her. Amy wiped away her tears and quickly followed after them.

The first bedroom they saw was the guest bedroom. It was painted a warm sand color that matched the desert brown carpeting. The bedposts were made of maple oak and finely carved on both the headboard and the footboard. The mattress was a full size with white bedding and a lace trim. The pillows were large and soft, and had a lace border as well. It was propped up against the window on the far north wall. To its right was an end table and a lamp. To the left was a closet, nothing was in the closet except for an empty shelf. The room was surrounded with boxes that had yet to be unpacked.

Charlotte's bedroom was relatively similar, though with iron poles that ran up to a square frame above the yellow silk bedding. Along this square frame was a white curtain that opened to reveal the bed, and closed for more privacy. The walls were painted in a gorgeous ruby paint, and met with fantastic red dust flooring. Her computer desk was against the west wall, facing the window, but her laptop was still stuffed away in one of the many boxes that were scattered about the floor and the bed.

Teddy's bedroom was large and fit for a queen, the walls and carpeting were sea blue. Her bedding was a deep blue color with beautiful lace trims along the edges. It only had a headboard that rose up and curled at the top. Across from the bed, on the south wall where they were, was a brown television stand and black television that rested atop it. The east wall had a large dresser propped up against it, but this was all that filled the room. Again, unpacked boxes were scattered about.

The kitchen was separated from the living room by a wall and an archway, it was large and had sand-colored counters with marble tops that lined the wall across from the doorway, which was on the east of the room. The middle counter had a metal sink embedded into it. On the outside counters, close to the south wall, was a stovetop with four burners. Beside the counters on the north wall was a large refrigerator. In the middle of the room was a long, oval-shaped wood table with four chairs on the side and a single chair on each end. It meshed well with the peach tiles.

"So that's it for the tour," Charlotte explained while leading them back into the living room. "PJ insisted on helping us out, so yeah."

"It's really a beautiful home," Amy wiped her eyes again and slowly breathed in, absorbing the home completely. They'd signed a five year lease, as her granddaughter explained, which meant they were definitely not leaving Chicago. She wouldn't ask them to uproot though, it would be wrong of her. She wanted to be close to her baby, though, not stuck in that infernal house with all those bad memories and now a nightmare that might show up even more frequently.

"It is. It feels like home, and it's the first home we've truly had."

"You said Teddy is out with Jo and Skyler, right? What about PJ and Gabe?"

"They're out looking for some bookshelves and stuff at the hardware store. My new friends have taken it upon themselves to give my cousins a tour of the place, so I'm stuck here unpacking my room." She rubbed her neck and chuckled to herself. "You need to know your grandchildren, I think. PJ's kids are Tyler, ten years old. Lucy is turning seven in a couple of weeks, and Zachary is turning four. PJ and Aunt Skyler are having another baby, due in December." Amy gasped and put her hands to her mouth, trying hard not to cry. She couldn't _believe_ she'd missed all these grandchildren.

"It's all my fault…I ran my babies off."

"Well, I don't know, but maybe…maybe you just need to talk to them. You say it was a misunderstanding, right?" Misunderstanding was the understatement of the century, to be honest. Teddy may hate her, but none of her children could ever hate her as much as she hated _her_ mother. "Also Uncle Gabe has a daughter named Jenny, she's turning five on the twelfth! Also, Aunt Jo's due to give birth sometime in November."

"Oh god…" Charlotte turned to her and smiled. She gave her a comforting hug, which seemed to relax her frayed nerves.

"It's okay, just relax."

"You don't understand, I never meant to run my babies off. I loved them, I still love them!" Her legs started to grow weak with pain, fear shot through her body and the nightmare returned. "Just days ago I..." Toby looked up at her and Charlotte frowned.

"Mom had a big scare," Toby explained. "I don't know, something freaked her out, but…I think she wants to make things right with everyone. If that's possible."

"I'm happy to see my children making lives for themselves, I just…I _never_ wanted to be like my mother. I _hated_ that woman! She's the reason everything went wrong in my life." Charlotte and Toby started leading her to the couch to sit down. Her heart was racing and she couldn't stop her body from trembling. "I want my babies back."

"It's okay Grandma," Charlotte smiled warmly and looked off to the kitchen. "Do you want a drink or something? We have some water." Shadow hopped up onto the bed and put his paws in Amy's lap. Amy looked down and met the puppy's loving eyes with a soft smile. She put her arm around the dog's neck and felt his tongue tickling her hand. "Look, Shadow's taken a liking to you!"

"He really is a sweet puppy." Her worries seemed to fade for a second and her heart started to quiet down. The power of a dog's unconditional love was always great. She looked up to see Cece still standing in the room, watching them with a tender smile. "Thank you for bringing me here."

"Well I'm glad to help, I suppose, but Teddy's not too happy." Cece had texted Teddy to let her know what was going on, but she never told Amy how she responded.

The front door flew open and Amy's heart shot to her throat. She heard her daughter's familiar shout and looked over to see Teddy, Gabe, and PJ all staring at her with wide-eyed, upset expressions. It was now or never. If she was going to get them back, she had to be honest, open, and willing to try. It was time for her to swallow her fears, and maybe, they could forgive a broken and battered woman for making some of the biggest mistakes of her life. She never should have let them go.

* * *

Well, the situation does look pretty dire here. What do you think is going on with Amy? You think Teddy will give her a chance to talk?


	29. Painful Past

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 29 (Painful Past)

Teddy was livid, her blood boiling with rage. She wanted so badly to throw her mother out the door, but she held back and made sure to bite her tongue. Jo and Skyler started to come in with the children and Charlotte's friends, but upon seeing Amy, they froze. "What…" She moved forward and slowly closed her hands, locking her eyes with her mother's. "Are you doing here?" She wasn't so blind and bitter that she would miss the hurt and the fear in her mother's eyes, but she really wasn't sure what to make of it.

The memory of Petunia and Amy screaming at one another, screaming at her, it returned as if it were as fresh as yesterday morning. It was a damn good thing Cece was in the room, because _someone_ would have to hold her back if things got out of hand. She knew who Toby was, able to remember her mother was pregnant when they left, but he was not the first thing on her mind in this instance. "I wanted to find you," Amy replied. She was weak, shrinking beneath Teddy's hot glare. "C-Charlotte forgot her phone and we didn't have an address, so…" Teddy started to growl and flicked her eyes to her daughter.

"Charlotte, take your cousins somewhere please. Go with Skyler and Jo." Charlotte nodded and hurried out the door with Toby. "Cece, you may want to hang around here." Cece nodded. The door shut behind her, Gabe and PJ remained in the apartment. "I wasn't aware this Toby that she met up with was your son. Did she get her phone back, at least?" Amy nodded and rested her hands at her waist. She was shivering and looked ready to break, Teddy couldn't understand it, but it troubled her deeply. She _wanted_ to yell, she wanted to scream, but she didn't want to crush the woman, and yet she already looked like she'd _been_ crushed. "Please stop looking like you're about to cry, so I can at least be angry."

"We gave her the phone, I know we probably could have called but, I really wanted to see you!" Amy reached out, curling her fingers in for a moment. She looked like a lost puppy, or a brokenhearted little girl. "I never wanted to run you off. My babies…I've always loved you, I…" Teddy put her hand to her hips and looked back at Gabe and PJ, they didn't appear to know what to do. Amy's tears were streaking her red face and her body's trembling had only grown worse.

"Take it easy on her," Gabe placed his hand on her shoulder and whispered softly. PJ leaned in and looked worriedly at him. "I uh, I ran a background check on her when I entered the agency…"

"Did she do something bad?" PJ asked.

"No…she was a victim." Teddy froze and lowered her arms. She felt a cold chill shooting down her spine as her gaze fell upon her mother. What had this woman gone through? What had been done to her? "Teddy, give her a chance to explain herself."

"Why didn't you tell us anything?"

"Didn't think it was my place."

"Enough talk," Teddy growled. She moved for Amy and folded her arms over, glaring into her eyes. Her nostrils flared as Amy began whimpering. She didn't expect this, she expected to hear a savage judgmental crowing from the woman. She expected to hear anger at the fact that they'd all left her. "PJ lives in New York. I live here, and Gabe lives in Trinidad, Chicago. What are your thoughts on that?"

"I…I'm proud of you all for doing well."

"Really?"

"Please." Amy started to fall to her knees, grabbing the edge of Teddy's shirt and bawling. Teddy raised an eyebrow, a nauseous and unsettling feeling swept over her as she glanced over her shoulder to her brothers. "I never wanted to be like my mother! I never meant to run you or to make you hate me." Hate _was_ a strong word. Teddy folded her arms over and glanced off to the side.

"I never _hated_ you, you're my mother." Gabe and PJ walked over and circled Amy. Gabe instructed them to back up just a bit, that it was best not to crowd Amy. "Damn, what happened to make you like this?" She was disgusted by the wet pool appearing on her shirt, tears and snot.

"I lost everything. I lost my babies, I lost my protector." She spoke in between sobs, making it very hard to understand. "Just tell me…how you've been. Please, I need to know, and if you want me out of your life…I'll go. I promise you, I'll leave and I'll never come back. You can take Toby with you, if you want, I…"

"Mom stop…" Teddy bit her lip and looked up at her brothers. Was Amy talking suicide? Her heart mourned the woman. With a heavy sigh, she helped her mom to her feet and walked her over to the couch. "You're not going to do anything to yourself, and Toby still needs you to raise him, so…" She quickly pointed for PJ and motioned to the kitchen. "Go grab a Kleenex, would you?" PJ nodded and hurried to the kitchen, returning within seconds with a tissue box. Amy grabbed for a tissue and blew her nose. "Mom, you're making it very hard to be mad at you. I hope you know that."

"I'm _sorry_. You can hate me if you want…"

"I _don't_ hate you, I just…some things are still pretty ripe and tender. You try talking to a judgmental mother that blamed you for everything and ran you off."

"Oh god!" Amy threw her hands to her eyes and began bawling. Teddy spread her arms out in defeat and looked helplessly to her brothers. She began rubbing Amy's back. "I became like my mother! God kill me!"

"Okay come on! None of that, mom…don't talk like that. If we can get through hell, so can you."

"I never should have done that to you. Never! Never, never, never!" Amy's pupils began to dilate and her body instantly froze. Her mouth hung open, with her jaw quivering. "Oh god no…"

"Mom?" Teddy put her hand over her mom's hand and squeezed slightly. Amy began screaming for Bob and crying out about some nightmare, a flashback of some sort. Teddy breathed in slowly, recognizing the action from something she'd seen from one of the stripper girls she met in the past. "Mom come back…come back to us." She didn't understand why her mother would be acting like this, but she needed to bring her back into reality somehow. "Mom, you're safe. Come on…it's me, your daughter, Teddy. Gabe and PJ are right here. You're in my apartment, there's nobody else around except for my friend Cece, and she's a police officer. You are perfectly safe, no danger…"

Shadow moved over and began licking Amy's hand. PJ smiled slightly and put his hands into his pockets. "I'm a music teacher, studying to be a college professor." Amy started to breathe again, still quivering. "Gabe's a detective on the force, his wife's a martial arts teacher, and my wife's studying to become a doctor."

"Listen to us Mom, we're here for you, okay? We're here now…none of us hate you." She pressed her lips tight together and closed her eyes, swallowing her own pride. It was taking every ounce of her strength to push away that old resentment that reared its ugly head, but seeing her mom like this was killing her.

"I…I just don't know what to _do_." Amy leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Shadow's neck. "That…That man showed up again…after all these years…" Gabe started to pale while PJ and Teddy exchanged confused glances. What was it that he knew that they didn't? Then again, he likely didn't know _everything_.

"What man, Mom? Who are you talking about?"

"He was the reason…he and Petunia…" She shook her head and brought her hands back to her face, clawing at her eyes. Teddy carefully took Amy's wrist and pulled it back.

"Mom. Look at me." Amy slowly looked at her, whimpering slowly. Teddy's eyes began to water as a mix of emotions ran through her. Not only were the memories of those violent fighting days rushing by her, but so was the nauseating fact that Amy was displaying _many_ signs and behaviors that various girls from the strip clubs had displayed. She spoke softly and slowly, opting to be there for her mother. "Mom, I'm going to tell you something, but I don't want you to judge me. Okay?"

"I won't. I promise. I don't want to judge you…you're my baby and I never meant to judge you! I never wanted to turn you away! I-"

"Mom, mom…Mom!" She snapped her fingers and Amy caught her breath. "Just look at me…" Amy slowly nodded her head and moved her pained gaze towards Teddy's compassionate eyes. "Do you want some water? PJ, go grab some water. Gabe, get me a cold rag…" The boys nodded and hurried off. Teddy took another slow breath, feeling her own heart pushing out at her chest. She was angry, but not at her mother, angry that someone may have hurt her mother. She wanted to find this person and tear their throat out. "Mom…when I left, there weren't many opportunities for me. I had only one person I found who was going to help me. He helped me finish high school, but he died, so I had to move to other venues. He was the only respectable one, everyone else was…it was a hard life."

"What…What did you do?"

Teddy strengthened herself mentally, preparing for letting this out. "I had to work at strip clubs, Mom." Amy gasped and her eyes filled with shock and terror, but she didn't say anything. Gabe and PJ returned with a cold rag and a cold water bottle. Teddy watched Amy grip the water bottle, squeezing it with the ferocity of a clamp. "Mom, just focus on me, please…Okay?"

"O-Okay…a stripper?"

"Yes, I had to move east through many clubs until I got here. Cece and Rocky helped me out tremendously, and I'm a head waitress here. I might be able to start an internship at a newspaper company, I don't know yet. But back to the clubs…I've seen a lot of things, I've seen girls breaking down because of bad customers and managers. I've seen girls take their lives, girls as young as fifteen suffering from things that they should _never_ have to go through…whatever you have to say, there's nothing I haven't seen…I'm here for you right now. Trust me."

"I don't want…I don't know how…"

"Take your time. Just baby steps, Mom…baby steps…" Now it was time to drop the bomb. She didn't want to, she didn't _believe_ it could happen, but there was nothing that seemed to sway away from the fact. "Mom, were you…sexually assaulted?" Amy's eyes widened and she quickly looked up at her, stammering for a minute. She closed her eyes and bowed her head. PJ and Gabe remained silent, letting Teddy lead.

"No. I've never been, but…" Amy slowly breathed in, muttering about baby steps. Teddy wasn't sure whether to be relieved yet or not. Just because her mother was never fully sexually assaulted didn't mean that something didn't happen to her. Something happened, maybe someone _tried_, but whatever it was, she needed to be patient. "When-When I was a young girl, Mom was always going on and on about how sex is bad, sex is evil, and knowledge of sex is the devil."

"Okay…"

"I didn't understand that it was a _good_ thing."

"It is a sacred act, as it should be."

"Yeah, it was Bob that let me know that." Amy took the wet rag offered by Gabe and started patting her face with it. Teddy smiled slightly and took the rag, patting Amy with it herself. "Robert 'Bob' Diddlebock…in high school…he-he tried to force me." Teddy's heart clenched and she stopped the rag on Amy's neck. Her eyes were wide and her body frozen, anger flooded her veins. She'd heard so many stories about that man, but never anything like this. What else was there? "Your father heard me screaming. I…I was pushing him back, but he wouldn't stop pulling at my clothes…Your father came and pulled him off me. He helped me home, my clothes were ruined, but nothing happened."

"Okay…"

"My mother saw this and she immediately blamed _me_ for leading him on!" Teddy cursed mentally and saw PJ turn around, disgusted and angry. Gabe clenched his fists so much that his knuckles were turning white. "Mom _always_ accused me of being the one to make him do it! She even brought the monster over once to _apologize to him!_ Dad couldn't take it, he stayed away from it all, but he was on my side. When mom invited that man over, he tried again…Dad caught him and threw him out of the house. He and mom had a huge fight about it and Mom accused me _again_ of being the devil."

Teddy slowly looked at her brothers. Her stomach was churning bile up her throat, and she was fighting to keep it down. She listened as her mother sobbed and tried to continue. She put her arm around her mother's shoulders and thinned her lips. "Okay Mom, you're doing fine. You don't have to go on if you don't want to."

"N-No, I have to."

"Mom…"

"My mother drilled this concept into my head, and that's why…that's why I was so fearful and I acted the way I did. I didn't even know it. That monster, he-he had guys at school laughing at me, calling me a _prude_ because I wouldn't give it up. They would lift up my skirt and laugh, it stopped in college though…Your father was the captain on the school's wrestling and boxing team, he took Diddlebock outside one day and beat him."

"Go dad," Teddy chuckled vainly while PJ bounced his eyebrows and sighed. Amy smiled at an apparent fond memory. "Your dad was my protector, my savior, and I loved him. Everything about that man I loved…He put up with me, I know I was a depressed wreck after all this. I was depressed, crazy, and it made him start drinking, I know…when you left, it just got worse. I got more depressed and he drank more…then Gabe went to college and he just…he left one night and kept drinking, the next morning…" Amy broke then and started bawling. Teddy moved an arm around her and rocked her back and forth.

"Okay Mom, okay…let's get you some rest, okay?" She started lifting Amy up to walk her towards the guest bedroom. Amy stopped them midway to the room and looked at them.

"He came back, Teddy. A few days ago…he showed up and said he _just_ heard about Bob's death. I was so terrified!" Teddy froze again, feeling her rage rushing through her. How _dare_ that man show up again! She had some choice words for her grandmother, sure, but she wanted to kill that man. "I pushed him out of the door, locked everything and just…there was nothing I could do."

"It's okay Mom, you're safe. He's not here…he's not here, he can't find you, and none of us will let anything happen to you. I promise." The boys agreed and continued walking Amy into the bedroom. "Drink your water, lay back on the bed, and we'll be right outside. Okay?"

"Okay Teddy…but why are you being so nice? You hate me…"

"Like I said…You're my mother, I don't hate you. Now get some rest. If you need anything, shout out." She cleared away the boxes on the bed, then guided Amy onto it.

"I love you. I always have. You and your brothers, and my grandbaby too…can you forgive me? Would you?"

"I forgive you, Mom. It still hurts, but I understand…just, it's going to take some time, okay?" She sat beside her mom and put her hand to her forehead. Amy slowly nodded as she pulled her hand away and let Gabe rest the rag on her forehead. PJ pulled the comforter up to Amy's neck and tucked her in, giving her his usual warm smile. "Now we're just going to be right outside. If you need anything, call for us."

"Okay…"

Teddy stood up and watched as her mom closed her eyes and started to curl up beneath the bed. She took a slow, deep, calming breath and quietly motioned for her brothers to exit. They all left the room and slowly closed the door. PJ smoothed his hair back, shuddering quietly while Gabe put his hand to his gut. Teddy shifted her gaze towards the restroom, ready to bolt in there and bend over that toilet. "I never thought things had been so fucked up," PJ cursed. Teddy put a finger to her lips and guided them out into the living room.

"What are we going to do?" She asked. "I normally wouldn't be the first to admit, but she seems genuinely upset about everything." Maybe they needed to be a family again, let her back and forgive her. It would be difficult to move past the resentments, but probable.

"I have to get back to Trinidad next week," Gabe muttered under his breath. "After that I'm cracking down on this homicide case. I'm not going to be able to see you guys again for a while."

PJ groaned and rubbed his neck. "One of my students has a lesson on Saturday." Teddy frowned and bowed her head, tapping her fingers on her thighs. Of course, life always goes on, no matter what. The world doesn't stop spinning for anyone or anything. "I honestly wish I could be there for your daughter's birthday, Gabe."

"It's okay. Right now, our biggest concern…Mom." He turned to the hallway entrance and visibly grimaced. "She can't go back to Denver. I mean…you saw her! She even said that guy showed up. He knows where she lives."

"Well what do you think we should do? Suggest she moves in with one of us? I can't take her in, my house is already full as it is." He had a point, Teddy barely fit in that guest room that he had. He couldn't possibly take care of Amy, and she would need someone who could be there for her mentally and emotionally. "I can't provide any of the emotional support she's going to need. Skyler probably could, but she's got her studies to focus on."

"Yeah, and my house is small. There's only enough space for Jenny and my wife, we don't have a big home." Teddy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. She didn't want to have this talk right now, she didn't even find it necessary yet. Would she take her mother in if she _had_ to? Yes, most likely. Amy wouldn't be a burden to her, but she'd just have to ease up to the woman.

"We'll figure it out guys," she replied, "If she doesn't want to be alone anymore or something, I'll take her in." Likely Amy was getting a retirement pension, so there was that. She could hopefully pull her own weight. "Just need some time to think and to talk to her."

* * *

Your thoughts? Do tell.


	30. Little Angels

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 30 (Little Angels)

Charlotte was happy to see her grandmother getting along with her grandchildren. There was a glow that radiated from the woman as she laughed with Tyler, Lucy, Zach, and Jenny. She'd lent Toby her computer to let him talk to Regina, since Teddy wasn't letting Amy go back to Denver just yet. She didn't know why, or what her mom, grandmother or uncles talked about, but it must have been major since Teddy was asking Rick and Cece to help collect her mother's things from the house.

Currently Amy was on the couch with her grandchildren surrounding her and asking various questions about the family and her life. Her mother was in the kitchen with Jo and Skyler, going over dinner plans while Gabe and PJ had gone off to their hotel. It was time to figure out what to do, but it appeared that the group wanted Amy to stay with Teddy. Charlotte was anxious to get to know her, but was nervous at the same time. This was the woman that partly caused a problem, but from what her mom said, it wasn't all Grandma's fault. Most of the blame fell upon a man named Bob Diddlebock, and upon Great Grandma Petunia, whom she never met, and truly didn't feel like meeting.

It was apparent that they'd have to restructure the guest bedroom for two beds, so Amy and Toby would split that room. Quite clearly no one felt it was appropriate for a boy and girl of the same age to share a bedroom, so Charlotte would _not_ be dividing her room to make room for Toby. While all this planning was going on, Teddy had _still_ not talked to her mother about her staying there with them. Rather, it seemed she was still trying to process everything while planning this at the same time. The one thing Teddy did say was, no matter what, even if Grandma Petunia were in a nursing home feeling sorry for herself, she was _not_ letting the 'demon' move in. PJ and Gabe agreed wholeheartedly.

Charlotte carefully moved towards her bedroom where her laptop was set up, she knew Toby was still in there on the computer with Regina. She wasn't sure if she should let him know what her mom was planning, since she wanted it to be more of a surprise, plus it was still all in 'idea mode'. "Hey Toby."

Toby looked up from the computer with a tiny smile. Charlotte could see Regina on the screen, clearly talking with Skype. It almost broke her heart to think that Toby and Regina would be working on a long distance relationship, but there wasn't much choice. "Hey Charlotte, how's it going?" She smiled back at him and waved when Regina called out to her. "Thanks for lending me the computer, I was missing Regina. Can't wait to get back to Denver." She frowned and moved towards the corner of her bed, sitting down with a heavy sigh.

"Toby, I don't think you're going to like this." Toby raised an eyebrow. She bowed her head for a moment, then looked him in the eyes. "Momma kind of wants to keep this between herself, Uncle PJ and Uncle Gabe, and me for right now…because right now, she's not sure how this is all going to work, so she doesn't want to get Grandma's hopes up or anything, but she's planning on moving you and Grandma here." Toby's eyes started to widen and Regina's eyebrows meshed together to form a wrinkle of sadness. "She doesn't want to say anything yet. Something happened, I don't know what, but it made Mom decide to do this."

"So you're telling me we might not be going back there? Why not? What does it have to do with Teddy not letting mom go back there?"

"I don't know…I just know what I've heard. I didn't know if I should tell you or not, but I thought it might be a good idea to let you know." Toby closed his hands up and looked at the computer webcam, frowning immensely. She knew it would be hard for him to carry on a long distance relationship, but if it was for the best, then it would be for the best. "I'm sorry Toby…I wish I knew what was going on, I really do." She wasn't going to call him 'uncle', since it sounded weird to call someone younger than she was with such a title. The whole thing had been shocking to the both of them, and she had to manage to cope with the fact that the friend she'd known for so long had actually been related to her. "I know it's hard to hear."

"It's fine, I'll…just need some time to think about it. Thanks for letting me know…where would we stay? Do you know?"

"Mom said she's planning on dividing the guest bedroom so you and Grandma will be in there." Toby nodded his head and folded his arms over. She looked to Regina with a subtle frown, the girl seemed just as genuinely upset as he was. "I think you two can manage to be together, it'll just require some work. Mom was pretty adamant about keeping you and Grandma here, apparently it's safer here than it is in Denver."

"Mom did say someone or something showed up, she just didn't say what."

"Yeah, I think Momma will talk about it soon. She and my uncles are just going back and forth over it." Still, the decision seemed pretty set in stone, regardless of whether or not Teddy and her brothers were in the mood to deal with it. "I uh…I think I'll let you and Regina talk for a bit longer, I'm just going to go back out here." Toby slowly turned back to Regina, letting Charlotte leave without a word. He did appreciate the heads up, but it looked like he'd have a difficult time coping.

When she made it back into the living room, the cousins were on the floor playing a video game on the television. Or more appropriate, Tyler was attempting to play a video game with Zach. Lucy and Jenny were sitting beside Tyler and watching the game with laughter, and cheering the boys on whatever they were doing. Amy was watching from the couch, still glowing. She looked to Charlotte and quickly pat the seat beside her.

Walking over, she had a bounce in her step. It was very slight, but still noticeable. She sat down and looked towards her grandmother's cheerful gaze. "This is the happiest I've been in years," Amy remarked. Just that sentence alone made Charlotte's heart leap up and dance. She reached down and put her hand over Amy's.

"I'm glad you're happy, Grandma." Amy closed her eyes and breathed in, absorbing the esteemed title that Charlotte and the other children had given her.

"That sounds so wonderful too. 'Grandma'. I never thought I would see my grandchildren…" She bowed her head for a moment, shrugged away a tear, and looked to the four children on the ground. "I'm so glad to see them." Charlotte smiled back at her and turned her gaze to the kids as well. She felt her grandmother squeeze her hand and looked back to her, meeting the woman's warm, yet timid gaze. "You have grown so much into a beautiful young woman, and I couldn't be any prouder in this moment than I am right now. Proud to be your grandma."

"Thanks Grandma." She reached over and hugged her. As she did that, the four children spotted them and ran up to join in the hug. Joyous tears welled up in her eyes, and Amy's cheek was wet to the touch. "You're crying?"

"I'm just happy." Charlotte and the kids moved back some to allow Amy to move and wipe her eyes with a pocketed tissue she had. "Ever since your parents left, I've never felt the way I do, and never thought…never thought I'd feel this way again. I just, I love all of you."

The four kids enthused and hugged Amy once more, "We love you too, Grandma!" Charlotte tucked her legs up on the couch and brought her hands to her lap, beaming with pride as her grandma _laughed_ out her pleasure. There was such innocence in them, such enormous amount of pleasure and joy that surprised her, and amazed her. Knowing what happened in the past, at least Tyler and Lucy were aware, but they were able to put it behind them. If these angels could, if she herself could, then for sure her mom and Uncles could as well.

When she looked up, she paused momentarily to see Teddy watching from the kitchen. Teddy was leaning up against the doorframe, her hands folded over below her chest, and her lips curled up into a simple smile. How long had she been standing there? "A child's love is the greatest gift in the world," Teddy stated. Amy gasped and quickly looked up at her, the four children continued their hugs. Teddy pushed herself forward and walked over, placing her hand to Charlotte's shoulder while peering down at Amy and the children. "Something I learned growing up, and over the last several years. If I didn't have Charlotte with me, I think I'd be lost. Of course, it was Charlotte who reconnected me with PJ and Gabe."

"Note, I was not trying to do that," Charlotte lifted a finger in her defense and chuckled out nervously. Teddy closed her eyes and started to smirk.

"You're still not allowed to leave this house, no wait, the _state_, without me knowing."

"I know, I know, I'm under house arrest for life." She huffed and folded over her arms, then started to smile. A growing sense of peace surrounded her, and she could feel the love that was radiating from not only the children, but everyone in the room. Even the dog looked happy, having lifted up from beneath the end table, and was now focusing on the children and Amy while wagging its tail. "Family's important though, Momma…you can't deny that."

"No you can't, I agree. Unfortunately everyone's spread around the place. Gabe is in Trinidad, PJ's up in the New York mansions, and I'm here in Chicago with a place my brother funded." She chuckled in defeat, but still the woman's smile was unwavering. "I couldn't be more grateful, though. I was and am glad to see PJ and Gabe, and I'll admit, it's not so bad seeing you again, Mom."

"Really?" Amy's eyes lit up with the hope in her voice. "You mean that?"

"Yes Mom, I do. The guys and I have something to discuss with you, and Toby, so…I'm going to help the girls finish up dinner. After we eat, and the guys get over here, we'll talk about it. Why don't you tell Charlotte about Dad? I can't possibly _imagine_ what she knows from listening to Toby, or…_Dark_." Teddy winked at Charlotte, teasing a smirk at her, then walking off while Amy laughed. Embarrassment shot past her for a moment. How silly had it been that she was so close to one of her uncles and her grandmother without ever knowing it?

"I'm chalking it up to fate," Charlotte called out to her mom. "It was fate! God wanted the family back together, so we found each other in a random meet, and then I got on the wrong bus. All fate!"

Teddy's head popped out from the kitchen, her lips still curled in full smirk. "I still call it meddling, dear." Charlotte stuck her tongue out, and Teddy moved back into the kitchen, laughing. Amy laughed and put a hand to her wrist.

"Don't worry dear, your mama was the same way when she was young, always getting into trouble. In fact, _I_ have no idea where she got it from." Amy hummed innocently, gazing off to the ceiling, grinning. Charlotte giggled and quickly cupped her hands over her mouth.

"We're going to ignore the giggle. So…I know you told the kids about Grandpa." Amy's eyes lit up once more and she leaned forward, excitedly. The kids moved up onto the couch, with Jenny and Lucy sitting in between Amy and Charlotte. Zach curled up in Amy's lap, and Tyler sat on the other side of his grandma. The dog laid down on top of Amy's feet, and let out a soft rumbling noise, as if it were purring like a cat. Everyone was prepared for more of Amy's stories, as she was hopefully going to tell them all about her adventures, and misadventures, with their grandfather. Charlotte could even feel her mother's eyes upon them, and looked over with a bright eyed grin as Teddy and Skyler watched from the kitchen doorway.

"Your grandpa was a _great_ man, and I loved him with all my heart…"

* * *

Your thoughts on the chapter? How do you feel about what Teddy said, or the moment with the grandchildren. My own grandmother seems to think it is about right behavior for a grandma who has gone so long not knowing her grandchildren.


	31. Second Chances

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 31 (Second Chances)

After dinner, Skyler and Jo had taken the kids to the hotels so they could get to sleep while the adults talked. Amy was seated in the recliner beside the couch, while Toby sat at the side of the chair, petting Shadow. Charlotte knelt at the other side of the dog, petting his head as well. Of course, the pup was eating up the attention and licking their hands whenever he got the chance. Teddy was on the left end of the couch, closest to Amy, while PJ and Gabe sat beside her. Also in the room were Officer Rick and Cece, seated at a small chess table a few feet behind the couch. The table had two chairs on either side of it. Cece was on the right, Rick was on the left. They were asked to be a part of this conversation, since the planning involved them.

"Okay Mom, it's time we've had this talk," Teddy started. She read the nervousness on her mother's face, as well as in the eyes of both Charlotte and Toby. Her brothers had come around to fully supporting the plan they'd come up with, but now she needed to explain it to her mother. This was a very difficult step for her, as many wounds were still fresh, but over time they could heal. She was more than pleased to see her mom _happy_ as she was before dinner, and she _did_ want to see this again. Charlotte, in a way, taught her the importance of family and reuniting with them, and she was overjoyed to have all her nieces and nephews with her as well. So, it was with those young children that she saw hope, that maybe the family could heal.

"You want me to leave, don't you?"

Teddy bowed her head and stifled a scoffing chuckle. As hard as it was to admit, Amy's leaving was the _last_ thing she wanted. "No. No Mom, I don't." When she looked back up, Amy's eyes were wide, and her mouth was open like a fish's mouth. "PJ, Gabe and I talked it over, and we decided…we're all going to try and make this work. Okay? So hear me out." Amy slowly nodded her head, trembling slightly. Her hands gripped hard on the armrests, and Shadow quickly moved up, licking her wrist with timid strokes of his tongue. "I don't want you going back to Denver, Mom. None of us do. Now, PJ has a big family up in New York, and he's got a child on the way, and Gabe's house is small, so neither of them have space now…"

"So, you're saying you want me to stay here? With you?" She pulled her lips back into a line as her mother gazed at her, so full of hope. Teddy's heart pounded as she sought to swallow all her angry pride. This _was_ her mother after all, and the woman had gone through hell and back. She clasped her hands together between her knees and closed her eyes, letting out a heavy sigh. "Teddy?"

"Twelve or thirteen years ago, you said something to me on that plane ride to Grandma's. Do you remember what that was?" A wrinkle formed between Amy's eyebrows and she closed her eyes, trying hard to recall. "No matter how much bad blood there may be between them, if they truly care about one another, a mother and daughter will always come back together in the end." Amy's eyes shot open and her head moved in a quick nodding motion, as she did remember that statement. "Charlotte may have disobeyed me when I told her she couldn't go to New York with Flynn and Bo, and then she got on the wrong bus by mistake. I _don't_ think that was an accident, but I don't think it was on purpose either…"

"It was an accident on my part," Charlotte muttered. Teddy closed her eyes and chuckled as her daughter started to whine. "I'm _so_ not getting my driver's license until college. Man, now Kimi and Violet are going to have to drive me everywhere!" Teddy cleared her throat and Charlotte quickly silenced. "Sorry for the interruption, Momma."

"It's okay dear." She brought Charlotte up in hopes to teach her good manners, such as, don't interrupt someone when they're in the middle of a sentence. She was still immensely proud of her daughter, because Charlotte _did_ come up well, and while she was a troublemaker, she had her manners. "Honestly Mom, if it wasn't for Charlotte, _none_ of us would be in this room right now." Twelve years ago, she would have expected a judgmental crack from Amy right after that statement, but now it was understood that more than likely, Petunia would say something. Hell, Petunia might say some kind of chiding remark about how Charlotte shouldn't even _exist_. A crease stretched over Teddy's forehead as she fought off the memory. Her body started to relax, and she continued on, her voice resonating with calmness. "I think, without trying, maybe we all learned a lesson here…and we're willing to try and work on this crazy family. Grandma Petunia might want to blame my daughter for splitting up the family, but that wasn't anyone's fault at all, to be honest…In fact, it was Charlotte that reminded us of what we've been missing."

"Aw, thanks Momma. Does that mean I can get my driver's license in the next year or two?"

"No it does not."

"Shi…damn." Teddy winced and raised an eyebrow, tapping her index finger at her.

"Language…"

"Sorry Momma." Charlotte bowed her head and put her hands in her lap. Teddy straightened her back and stared at her mother. The woman's face was drenched with tears, and Teddy could feel nothing but compassion for her. It was truly astonishing to know she actually cared about her, but she was her mother after all.

"Now, I want you to understand _why_ we want you to stay here. It is safer…" Amy's expression scrunched up while Toby merely bowed his head, grumbling a bit. She was sorry that he'd have to leave some of his friends behind, but there was no other choice in her mind, she wanted to protect her mother. "Toby, let me try to explain this to you…" Toby raised his eyes to her and remained silent. She put her hand to her chest and breathed in slowly. "I want to protect you, and our mother. There is a very bad man out there that is stalking her. It's not safe for either of you to be alone in that house, and with your closest family being states away. There's nowhere for her to go, do you understand?"

"I guess…I just don't understand why it took you this long to get back in touch."

"Some very bad things happened twelve years ago," Gabe replied. Teddy looked over at him and Toby started to whine. "I know how you feel, Toby, I was let down too by my older siblings. They know this…" Her chest ached with pangs of guilt, and PJ slowly turned his gaze away from the group. It was hard to get over what happened in the past, but they would have to move on somehow. "At the time, it was the best thing to do, though."

"How?"

"Because…Charlotte had a bad heart." Toby frowned and looked to his friend. She lifted her shoulders and closed her eyes. "She nearly died multiple times just from the stress and excitement of all the fighting. Her heart almost failed her, and one time, if it wasn't for Mom's expertise, she might not have lasted until the hospital. Christmas came around, Grandma Petunia was going about everything like the devil on crack, and the breaking point was when Charlotte fainted on top of a bunch of glass figurines." The young boy began to pale, and Charlotte moved her hand up to her chest. Teddy pushed the memory away, denying her anger the right to return. "Our grandmother didn't even _care_. All she cared about was 'the girl broke my glass reindeer'. So maybe PJ's and Teddy's leaving wasn't exactly well thought out, but it was the best thing to do at the time…for Charlotte's health, and I guess, for PJ's own health and sanity as well."

PJ nodded and whispered his agreement. "We were wrong to break all contact," he said without hesitation. "We just did what we thought it was going to take, and we've all made mistakes. Maybe our lives would be different if it never happened, but maybe…it wouldn't be so different. Now I know things aren't going to be okay right off the bat, and it's going to take some time to make things right, but if we all make a conscientious effort, things can get better. Right now, the best thing we know to do, is to bring you and Mom _here_. Teddy's place is the best place for her, and for you."

"I'll even help you and Regina stay in contact!" Charlie exclaimed excitedly. Toby seemed a bit uneasy and hesitant, but he wasn't fighting it. "I don't want Grandma in any danger. Seeing how happy it made Grandma to be with all the cousins was worth every bit of peace and laughter. If she's here, then that can be a constant thing, and maybe everyone can be happy again."

Teddy looked to her daughter with pride once again. She had to wonder if Amy thought she raised the girl up well. She moved her hand up to her mouth and cleared her throat, grabbing everyone's attention. "She's right. In order to make this work, we were thinking of trying to schedule regular family visits. Now I know it's hard to do with Gabe working homicide, PJ working as a professor and collecting his doctorate at the same time Skyler's starting to become a doctor. There's a lot of time constraints, and it's hard to go from one place to the next." It wasn't just hard, it seemed deathly impossible,_ but_ they _could_ make it work. They _had_ to if they stood any chance of being a family again. "Everyone needs to want it, and I think they do. We can have Christmases together, _probably_ at PJ's place since he has the bigger house."

PJ laughed nervously and lifted up his shoulders. "Yeah, Skyler and I can make that work."

"Right." She paused and started to think on Gabe's place. No matter who went where, they would have to make use of motels. "Going to PJ's, Gabe's, or even here, some people would have to stay at a hotel for a while. However it can work for Christmases, summer trips, and _maybe_ spring break. It all depends on who is scheduled for what…"

"It sounds like a good plan," Toby agreed, "I'd like it." Amy agreed as well, but she hadn't been saying anything. Likely, she was too shocked to speak, or maybe she just didn't know what to say. "So, if you're not letting us go back to Denver then, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to go there yourself, how will Mom and I make that move here?"

"That's the tricky part." This was the part she and her brothers debated heavily about, because _none_ of them wanted to return to Denver. No one wanted to deal with the memories, the flashbacks, the pains, and sure as hell, no one wanted to step foot in that infernal house. She was frightened to even go there, but she had to. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and brought her hand to her forehead, rubbing it gently. "Okay, so Mom's going to stay here with you and Charlotte. Jo needs to get back to Trinidad, Skyler needs to get back to New York, but PJ and Gabe have agreed to travel to Denver with me. Officer Rick and Officer Cece will be going too, in case that stalker shows up. We're going to start packing things up, and will have to sell the home."

"I wouldn't bother selling it to be honest," Amy remarked. Teddy raised her eyebrows, shocked by her mom's statement. Why would she _not_ sell the home? "My thoughts on the house is just to hand it over to real estate and let them deal with it. Or give it to the city. That way, you don't have to deal with it. You can just pack the things up and be done with it."

"Okay…" It was actually a good idea, and much faster timewise. "I do like the sound of that, because Gabe and PJ _do_ need to get back to their homes too. What do you guys think?" PJ and Gabe murmured their agreements, and so, the issue was settled. She pat her knees and smiled peacefully at her mother. "All right, it's settled on that. PJ, Gabe, and I will go to Denver…start making arrangements, and that should be done…"

Amy leaned forward and grasped her hands, gazing into Teddy's eyes. Teddy started to hold her breath, blinking away the mist in her eyes. "Teddy, I do appreciate this. I just want you to know…I love you, and Gabe, PJ, Charlotte, Toby, I love all of you…and I love being able to see my grandchildren. I know I don't deserve it."

"I wouldn't say that." Her voice cracked for a split second, so she looked away and cleared her throat. "If anyone doesn't deserve it, maybe Grandma Petunia, but you're still our mother, and we still care about you. Maybe you've made some mistakes in your life, but we all have, and we're learning to forgive. It might be hard to _forget_, but things will be okay. All right, Mom, you understand?"

"I think so…"

"Because we forgive you, and we…_love _you…" _Damn_ that wasn't as hard to say as she thought it would be. "We're willing to give you another chance. Plus, I saw something when you were playing with the kids earlier…I was impressed with how great you were with them, and how much love and compassion there was there, and that's what really made me think…you deserve every minute of happiness you can have from your grandchildren, and they deserve every second they have with you." Amy's eyelids slid down and she began to break out in silent, quick sobs. Teddy pulled her into a hug, and PJ reached over to rub his mother's back. "Everything is going to be okay mom. Everything will be just fine…we'll get through this."

"One step at a time," PJ added. "Those kids need us all to be a family. Can't tell you how many times my son or daughter begged me to talk about my family."

Gabe laughed once and propped his elbow up on PJ's shoulder. "Jo was right, Jenny _needed_ this. Only, I think we all needed this. We all need to be a family again." Teddy hugged her mom closer, her heart was racing inside, and every bit of coldness she had developed towards her mother was slowly melting away.

"We will be a family again, guys. It'll take some time, but I know we can be…Who would have thought it'd be our children to make us see that?" Perhaps children were wiser than anyone gave them credit for, it was amazing, the lessons that children had to give to their parents. One could appreciate the value of what they could learn from the young.

* * *

Your thoughts on this heart to heart?


	32. Part of the Past

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 32 (All Part of the Past)

The hard part had arrived, and the near hyperventilation she'd suffered was definitely gone as she braved the first step out of the airport. She was fortunate to have her brothers with her, so she wasn't facing the bitter Denver air alone. Also with her were Cece and Rick, there for support in case they ran into Bob Diddlebock. "What are we doing here?" Teddy asked while being led out to the rental car. PJ remained silent, staring around the place with a hardened expression.

Gabe placed a hand to her shoulder and breathed in heavily. "We only have to grab the important stuff from Mom's house, and then talk some real estate agent." That was the easy part, or at least, what Teddy felt the easy part was. She was truly terrified being here without Charlotte. "I never thought we'd all be coming here again, or at least, not together…"

"That's the best way to do this," PJ muttered. "I'd much rather be giving my students their teaching lessons. Believe me, being here is not easy for me. A little too many memories too combat." Teddy moved into the back of the rental car with her brothers, it was a blue minivan. She sat in the middle with Gabe to her left and PJ to her right. Rick got into the driver's seat and Cece settled into the front passenger seat. "I guess our first stop is going to be that house."

"It's a good thing we're doing this together," Teddy remarked. Her heart was racing and her chest was on fire. If she moved, she might die. Her muscles tensed as the car started up. Memories of her time in Denver began settling in her mind, gutting and choking her. She moved her hands to her brothers' hands. They looked at her and grasped her hands, reassuring her with gentle smiles. "I never wanted to come back here. I put off any kind of visit with even Ivy, just because I didn't want the memories. You can't possibly understand…how much this place is a hell on earth for me."

"It'll be all right, Sis…and yes, we understand that." She began to feel nauseous. Motion sickness was never a problem for her in the past, but she was coming extremely close to it. Her brothers rolled the windows down, so she was able to let the rush of the air cool her. "Just take a few deep breaths, focus on something."

"Yeah, focus on your breathing," Rick looked at her through the rearview mirror. He had a good tip, police officers did a lot of breathing exercises to calm themselves down. "Sometimes when we arrive on a scene, it's to the point we just need to relax and count our breaths."

"He's right," Cece added. She looked over her shoulder, smiling calmly at Teddy, soothing her. "For a while focus on each breath, how it feels, how it sounds, how long it's going for…count each one." She raised her eyebrow and slowly nodded her head, uncertain if it would get her mind off being in Denver. She was willing to try anything, though.

Cece and Rick had been right about the breathing, it helped, even as they parked at the curb beside the old home. The real estate agent was waiting to meet them, and was standing in front of the house. Amy had given Teddy the Power of Attorney to sell the house, so that step was taken care of. The unfortunate thing was Teddy would likely have to come back to Denver again to attend the closing of the house.

The real estate agent was a tall woman with long blonde hair, a blue suit, and a round and gentle face. In her right hand was a briefcase, possibly holding her computer and papers. As Teddy and the others exited the car, they began to recognize the woman as a familiar face. It was Debbie Dooley! "Mrs. Dooley? I didn't know you were a real estate agent," Teddy remarked calmly. The woman's nostalgic accent tickled her ears.

"Why yes, I've been in real estate all my life, dear. It's wonderful seeing you three again." Debbie shook their hands and turned her head to the house. "So you're selling your mother's house? She's changed her residency already?" PJ confirmed it, they'd already driven Amy to the city hall in order to make her address change. "Who has the Power of Attorney?"

"I do." Debbie looked at her with a smile. "I uh…It's hard being here, so we were hoping to just be done with this place. We're going to pack up the things Mom said she wanted most of all, whatever we leave, you can get rid of."

"All right, I will certainly do that for you. Would you like to go through the house and let me know what it is you'd like to be rid of?" She nodded and looked back to the others, everyone was as silent as the wind against their faces. No one _wanted_ to step foot in that house, no one _wanted _to subject themselves to those memories. Debbie's expression was that of concern and sincerity. "Will you be all right going inside, Teddy? I know you said over the phone that it would be hard…"

"Yes, we're working on that though. We'll fill out the paperwork and everything." Debbie nodded and walked to the front door. As they unlocked the door, Teddy caught Gabe looking in the direction of Mrs. Dabney's old house. She eyed the crusty and empty house with a heavy heart. Many fond memories of standing on that porch with the woman staring at them after some embarrassing or loud moment played at her heart, threatening to bring a tear to her eyes.

_"Hi Mrs. Dabney."_

Even Mrs. Dooley was hard to take. She knew that after all these years, the woman's husband was now the Chief. She had to wonder how little Dee was doing, but didn't want to ask. She knew enough from what Charlotte told her after her experience in Denver.

As soon as the group entered the home, Teddy was struck by an overwhelming rush of nausea and panic. She pushed the bad memories of the fights from her head and turned her eyes to a family picture above the nearby fireplace. Her father's face brought tears to her eyes. Her heart broke when she realized she'd never see him again, and the last memory of him would be him passed out on the couch with an empty vodka bottle in his hands.

PJ rubbed her shoulder and signaled to walk to the kitchen with everyone. She cleared her throat and closed her eyes, letting her feet lead her into the kitchen. When she entered, she gasped for air, then held onto her breath. The room hadn't changed much. The blackboard was still up, but only listed Toby's chores around the house. The table was clean of debris, the kitchen counter had a few dirty dishes scattered about. "We'll have to clean up this place," PJ groaned.

Debbie looked at the three siblings and pulled her lip back into a frown. "If it makes you uncomfortable, I can hire a maid service to come and clean everything up for you until the house is spotless." There was a lot the woman could do to help them, and Teddy was extremely grateful for that. "If you can get everything you're packing up, I can deal with everything else." She opened her briefcase on the table and began pulling out some paperwork. "Here are the forms you're going to have to sign, Teddy."

"All right, let me see them…" She wasn't going to hesitate in signing over this house. There was no decision making necessary at this point, she was glad to see it go. Hell, she wasn't sure she wanted to walk through it at all. Debbie handed her the papers and she instantly sat down at the table, grabbing a pen from the woman now seated next to her.

"You mother did not change much in this house from what I understand. I believe your bedroom is still entirely intact…that's what my daughter's friend says, at least."

"Regina?"

"Yes." She hummed and looked up to PJ, she was almost curious to see if her room really was the same. Would she be able to truly handle that? She looked back to the papers as the corner of her lip tugged back a bit. Did she dare to go down into that basement? She would have to eventually. She licked her fingers and started flipping through the pages, signing everywhere she could.

"I just want to be done with this place. The things I do for my mother…" She still didn't know what she was doing as far as taking care of her mother, there was no other choice that she could think of. Perhaps she should give Debbie power of attorney, so she wouldn't have to look at this house ever again, skipping over that closing that was soon to come.

When she was finished with the papers, they began to make their way through the place. Eventually they went into the basement, where even _Gabe_ was brought to tears. The video game system was still hooked up, and of course, they'd be packing it for Toby. There were many things they found throughout the house that were to be packed, like the contents of Toby's room, the contents of Amy's room, and some very sentimental material for their mom. However over half of the stuff in the house would either be trashed, or sold.

She put her hand to the door leading into her old room and swallowed hard, trying to rid herself of the lump in her throat. Rick was standing beside her with PJ while Gabe and Cece stood over at the couch, gathering up the game system and cords. "Are you sure you want to go in there?" PJ asked.

"I have to. It's closure." She almost laughed at the 'do not enter' sign her mother placed on the door. Ignoring it, and going against the nauseating rush of bile in her belly, she swung the door open. Her hands flew to her mouth and tears instantly flushed from her eyes. There was _nothing_ _different_ about her room, it was exactly as she left it several years ago.

She whimpered and fell to her knees, burying her head into her hands. Rick and PJ knelt beside her and rubbed her back, trying to comfort her. The scent of peaches warmed her nostrils. She always tried to give her room a scent when she was younger, and that was the scent she loved most. Her bedding was still perfectly made, and the room was cleaned with a loving touch. She couldn't believe Amy kept it in this shape all these years.

There was an impression on the bed that matched well Amy's figure. She had to wonder how often her mother came in there. She sniffled and attempted to stand. Her heart was slamming against her chest, crushing her ribcage. All the memories of this room, of Ivy, Skyler, and even what she'd done with PJ, they were too much for her to take.

She accepted them, however. "It's all part of the past," Teddy whispered. She slowly rose to her feet, with the help of the two men with her. "It's all past us now." Debbie stepped in behind her, waiting a minute before asking if there was anything Teddy wanted in this room. She closed her hands and carefully shook her head, knowing she needed to let go of it all.

The lava lamp beside the bed, the beautiful comforter, and even the dresser that she and her brothers made so long ago. Everything had to go. Even Amy had been giving up a lot of things that she would have clung otherwise. If her mom was willing to give up the past and move on, as hard as it was for her, then the three siblings would have to do the same.

She walked over to the dark brown dresser and ran her hands over the smooth polished wood. She hiccupped once as her gaze fell to the engraving on the top. _'Teddy Bear's Dresser-2007'_ "No, Debbie…everything in here…can go." Behind the dresser were the names of all their friends at the time, sort of a stamp in time. _Amy. Bob. PJ. Gabe. Ivy. Emmett. Spencer. Skyler. _"Maybe you…could give this dresser to your daughter?"

"Really?"

"We put it together when I was eleven." She ran her hand over the rough engravings on the wooden back. She had to admit, they had a carpenter come over every time to put them in. Eventually the carpenter told them how to do it themselves. "Those who were close to us, those of our important friends would put their names in…kind of like a time stamp. It is invaluable." Gabe and the others walked in and Debbie folded her arms over, raising her eyebrows.

"Are you sure you don't want it?"

Everything was silent as that dresser and all of its memories filled her with nostalgia. She wiped her tears away and tore away. "Yeah…there's a lot we need to part with. Maybe we'll make another for Charlotte, and she can fill it with memories of her own life and her own friends."

"Maybe so. If you're done looking through the house…I guess we can finish up here?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm letting it all go now…"

* * *

Did you like the chapter? Tell me your thoughts, what did you like? What stood out?


	33. Kindred Soul

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 33 (Kindred Soul)

They spent hours packing up the items needed by Amy and Toby, letting everything else go. The maids Debbie hired were busy getting everything spotless, and U-Haul had some people helping with the packing and loading. Teddy was outside, wiping the sweat from her brow when Rick came up behind her. "Are you doing all right?" He asked. She turned around, startled. She was very grateful for his concern, she was happy to be checked up on from time to time. "You're handling everything all right?"

"Yeah, thank you. I guess I'm just slowly accepting this place for what it is." She looked up to the house, then back out to the street. "Just a part of the past. I mean that I can't deny the stuff that happened here…but I can't let the ghosts of the past beat me down, if that makes any sense?" He agreed and looked back to the house. Teddy wasn't sure there was anything for her to do and wanted to go for a walk, but she did not want to go alone. "Hey Rick, would you mind walking with me? I want to take a break from this place for a while and don't want to walk by myself." He looked back and nodded.

"Sure, I don't mind." She thanked him and called out to PJ standing near the door with one of the movers, letting him know she was going off for a walk. She didn't want to be rude and vanish without her brothers knowing. As the two began walking, it seemed that it would be a silent walk. She really didn't know what to say, but maybe sharing some memories with him wouldn't be bad. "Seems like a pretty good neighborhood to live in."

"It was a great place." Her heart lifted up as she gazed down at the familiar old cracks in the sidewalk. It didn't appear to have aged very much at all. She thought she heard an ambulance siren in the distant, faint as it was, it was only in her mind. "There were many things that happened here. The bad overshadows the good sometimes, so that's what makes it hard to deal with."

"I can understand that. Sometimes all we can do is struggle to make the best of it." She pocketed her hands and looked up as they came up to a Reddie Mart. With a hopeful smile, she motioned for Rick to follow her inside, perhaps Alice was there.

"An old friend of mine used to work here. Charlotte met her daughter, and said she's a district manager or something." Rick's eyebrows rose and he quickly followed her inside. When she entered through those doors, she half expected to see soda bottles shooting up like geysers, and Gabe being chased by the clumsy manager. Instead, she saw a tall red haired woman giving instructions to a young female manager. It wasn't hard to tell the black suited woman was just an older version of Alice Wartheimer. "Alice!"

The woman looked over, startled by Teddy's voice. She excused herself and walked over, studying Teddy closely. "Teddy? Teddy Duncan? My god, where the hell have you been all these years?" Teddy laughed nervously and rubbed her neck.

"It's a _long_ story, Alice. How are you? My daughter said you were a District Manager now."

"That's right, I oversee all of Denver's Reddie Mart stores, actually. Any store managers, I hire. You remember Hugh? He's no longer employable by these stores. Last I checked, he got a job as a janitor picking up kid's vomit at a preschool." Teddy winced for a second and studied Alice closely. She was tall, stood poised with her shoulders up, had a very straight face, and long red hair that framed her shoulders. There wasn't a hint of her prior anxiety troubles. Rather, she'd become a very strong, independent, empowered woman with a very sharp gaze. Teddy was both proud and impressed.

"You've really grown over the years, haven't you?"

"Learning from past mistakes is how you get to become successful in life." Alice motioned for her to walk with her, so she did. Teddy watched as Alice started walking down the aisles, re-sectioning some items in the wrong place, and moving various items closer to the front of the shelves. "I've accepted my mistakes and I've grown from them. The last mistake I made was letting a drunk bastard play off my low self esteem at some party, so I got rid of that."

"What happened there?" Alice raised an eyebrow and stopped beside a flower stand. She began readjusting the bouquets, straightening them and spacing some roses just a bit. When she finished, she looked over to Teddy with a forlorn expression.

"Regina's birth father, who I absolutely do not associate myself with." She turned around and breathed in slowly. "You remember Spencer, do you not?" Teddy's eyes widened and her heart shot to a halt. Of course she remembered him.

"That…asshole? He's Regina's dad?"

"Well birth father. He's currently an alcoholic who lives off his parents and hasn't done anything with his life. When you left, I was feeling a little alone, so he decided to invite me to this party everyone was going to…he got drunk, then got me pregnant." Teddy threw her hands to her mouth and closed her eyes. God how she hated him! How dare he continue to screw around with people she knew? "I should never have associated with him to begin with, especially knowing what he did to you. You know what, though?"

"What?"

"I don't regret it." Teddy raised an eyebrow as Alice brushed past her. She followed closely, her stomach was already churning enough bile at the mere mention of the man's name. Now she was confused, Alice hated Spencer just as much as she did, but she didn't regret what happened? "For the same reason you shouldn't regret what happened with PJ. I learned to look at the good rather than the bad. Regina is my entire world, and without her, I know I wouldn't be where I am today because she motivated me. She's my muse, my motivation, my light, and I wouldn't change a thing."

Teddy was stunned, a bit taken aback by Alice's wisdom. She could see very well how right the woman was, because she felt that same way about Charlotte. Sure, she shouldn't have done what she did, but if she didn't, Charlotte wouldn't even be here. It didn't make the initial act _right_, but it sure as hell made her think. In a way she already knew this, but just thinking that rather than moping on it, learning from the past would help the most was something she hadn't really considered.

"You're right. I can't regret what I did because I don't regret Charlotte." She pressed her lips together and turned her eyes to the windows. "I don't want to regret anything in my past. I mean, you can't change the past, so why…mope about it?"

"Exactly. I think Ivy said you were running from it all this time, so of course I'm shocked to see you here." Her heart shot up her throat at the mention of Ivy's name. God she missed her, did she shop here? "Ivy and I talk often, since this is my 'home store', per say, I'm here most often. Regina and her friends, including Mason, are often playing around here. Have you seen her yet? She told me you two started talking on the phone, but never mentioned you coming here."

"No, I…I haven't…" She was ashamed of herself. She had every capability of seeing Ivy again, but because she feared the memories, she never wanted to see her.

"You should. I don't really see anyone else from back then, it's really great seeing you again. Have you married?" Teddy slowly shook her head and crossed her arms over. In the last few days she started wondering how it would feel to have a husband. She heard the stories from Jo and Skyler of their marriages, and her heart broke that she hadn't been able to share anything remotely similar to them.

"I uh…yeah I stopped dating after Spencer. It was just hard not having someone there for me, it was even harder when the one man I opened myself up to shot me down the way he did. It just seemed like I couldn't trust guys all that much." Alice put a finger to her chin. Her eyes moved from Teddy to Rick, then back to Teddy. Catching the question in her gaze, Teddy's cheeks instantly went red. It wasn't the first someone suggested Rick, even Skyler brought up the possibility of dating him. Somehow, she just knew Charlotte would try something. She would have enjoyed going out with him, she knew he would make a good companion, and over the years, he'd become like a father for Charlotte only because his partner was her best friend.

"Well Teddy, I know being a single mother is tough, so you're stronger for it. However, I'm sure I don't need to tell you how lonely it can get…I might not have married yet, but I have been dating someone for at least a year now." Teddy smiled at her and turned her eyes towards the ground. She wouldn't argue that it was lonely, it was. Anytime Charlotte wasn't home, she would feel the lack of companionship. She chose that, thinking no man would ever want to be involved with someone like her. "My advice to you, find a guy that's willing to accept you for who you are and gets along with Charlotte. Find a man that can care for you both, and you're golden."

"I guess. I mean yeah not every guy's a jackass. I just want a guy I know I can lean on…you know, PJ and Gabe had that in Skyler and Jo…I wanted that, and I still do." She looked over to Rick, who was now looking at a shelf of books, crime fiction. She chuckled slightly and folded her arms over. "If I open myself up to that…"

"You just have to trust that not every man is going to hurt you. It took me a while after Spencer to trust a man wasn't going to get me drunk and pregnant, but when I finally got past that…I'd never been happier. I didn't let Spencer ruin my life or my love life, Teddy." Teddy looked up to her, feeling the tears flood her chestnut eyes as Alice reassured her with a gentle smile. "You're a strong person. I know you are. Don't you remember when we met, and you were sitting there giving _me_ advice?"

"Yeah…" She stifled a laugh and looked over to Rick. Such irony, now Alice was giving _her_ advice. Alice did great when she listened to her advice. "I remember that. I thought you quit."

"I did. Then I got hired by another Reddie Mart when they noticed how I stood up for myself, everyone thought Hugh was a jackass anyway…I was able to work my way up from there." Alice lowered her arms and straightened her blouse before clearing away her throat. "Anyway Teddy. My point is, you were strong. You told me to stand up for myself, not to give up, and so I looked up to you. You were my hero for that, more than you know…and I'm telling you, you're _still_ strong, whether you see it or not, you can be. When I said I didn't let Spencer screw up my life or my romantic life, I said that as a lead-in…you don't have to let him screw yours up either."

Before Teddy could respond, a crash was heard in one of the aisles over. Alice winced and looked over as an employee poked their head out, looking back at her with fear. Alice narrowed her eyes and tapped her foot impatiently. "Excuse me Teddy, I'm sorry, I have to deal with this…"

Teddy chuckled and watched her walk off. "Yeah…" She looked back to Rick, now reading some crime book. "You're right Alice. That's part of the past, Spencer may have hurt me, but he shouldn't be able…to control whether or not I can be happy in a relationship…"

With the newfound strength Alice had given her, she had to thank the woman. Successful, strong, independent, happy, a single mother but with a man, it seemed Alice was the epitome of what Teddy would love to be. On the road to happiness. It seemed now, Alice was _her_ hero, oh how the tables turned.

She swallowed hard and slowly walked over to Rick, stripping away her own pride. Twelve years of hurting led her to this very moment. He looked up from the book asked if she was ready to continue their walk. She closed her eyes and breathed in. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." She opened her eyes and looked at the book. "What are you reading?"

"Just something that caught my interest. Apparently it's about this detective that's trying to solve this case of a serial killer that's been causing terror through the city, and a family torn apart by crime." He closed the book and looked at the cover. "Blind World, by someone named NightWolfMoon…it's pretty interesting."

"You should buy it, or check it out at the library." She lifted her shoulders and looked over at the shelves. That author was a pretty famous author these days, in fact that book was one of the earlier works. As interesting as it seemed, she was on at a more crucial moment. "Hey Rick, I'd like to ask you something…"

"What's that?" He set the book back on the shelf and folded his arms over, looking into her eyes.

"Well, it's just…I've been thinking about what you said to me the other day, about how we all have some dark times in our life, and you never judge what happened in my past…" He nodded and she fought against her fears telling her that a man would not be able to make her happy. She begged to differ, she did believe she found someone who would support her, and had been doing that. "Well, I've always been grateful for you being around, being there for me and for Charlotte. You didn't have to, even though Cece's your partner on the job, you never had to show up with her, so I wanted to thank you for that."

"Well, I'm just glad that I can be there for you. You're a good woman, and a great mother. You deserve some happiness in life."

"Yeah, I never really thought about that…" She rubbed her forehead and sighed. As she pulled her hand away, she locked her gaze with his, smiling slightly. "I was wondering if, when we get back to Chicago, maybe you'd like to have dinner some time? Kind of like…a date or something…I'd like to start out slowly, but if you're interested..." She had to stop herself before she droned on, she was only talking to avoid her thoughts from making her change her mind before it was too late. "I'm just afraid of putting myself out there, but I have to try."

When Rick smiled back at her, she was overjoyed. "I'd be happy to." Cece was going to tease the hell out of her, but at least this was the beginning of a new chapter for her. Maybe she could be like Alice one day, and be truly _happy _again.

* * *

Well, what did you like? By the way there's 2 more chapters of this, and then another GLC story with Skyler basically dealing with an identity crisis. You'll see, but let's focus on the next two chapters of this.


	34. Three Siblings Find Closure

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 34 (Three Siblings Find Closure)

The next step was a difficult one as well, for both PJ and Teddy, but more so for Teddy than him. They were standing before the Heglin house, and for the first time in nearly thirteen years, Teddy was going to see Ivy. PJ had seen Emmett a couple times over the years, so it wasn't _quite_ as difficult, so he just wanted to be there for moral support. Teddy would need it. Not only was she going to see Ivy, she was going to ask Ivy for help with the next step, to truly move on with her life.

Petunia, in her old age, moved to Denver in hopes of being close Amy, and her other family. She wound up hitting the nursing home, since neither Amy, or her sister Diane would let her live with them. Both of her daughters had been highly alienated by the woman, and shockingly, Amy was the sibling that kept seeing her mother. Amy had her closure with the woman, in a way, when she told her quite simply she wanted nothing more to do with her. Now it was Teddy's turn, but first, she wanted closure with her best friend.

She asked Cece to stay behind for now, because she wasn't too certain how Ivy would react to her. She wanted to be sure Ivy knew she wasn't being replaced by either Cece or Rocky. These were only her best friends in Chicago, if the roles would have been reversed, she knew Ivy would have helped her out of her rut just as they helped her. "You ready to do this?" PJ asked, mildly impatient. "We need to hurry if you want to get to the nursing home after this…and I'm not exactly looking forward to that…"

"I know." They would meet Gabe there, since he needed the closure as well. Right now, he was with Cece and Rocky, finishing up the packing. "Ivy won't hate me, I know she won't…she _doesn't_…I just don't know how she'll react to the news that I'd been a stripper-"

"You were what now?" A voice asked. Her muscles tensed and she quickly turned to the right. Ivy was standing at the corner of the house wearing gardening gloves. She was tapping her foot and glaring at Teddy with disappointment. Emmett was near her on a step ladder, trimming the tree. He hopped off and watched with wide eyes. Teddy swallowed hard as Ivy started pulling off her gloves.

"H-Hey Ivy…"

"You come all the way to Denver, show up at my house without any warning, and after all these years I find out you've been a _stripper_?" Ivy began walking towards her, tossing the gloves on the ground. Teddy's stomach began flipping and she tried not to collapse under the heat of her friend's glare. "Why wouldn't you have told me that? I could have convinced my own parents to help you out! I would have made them help you! You didn't have to go into that life."

"I know, it's just…I didn't want to stay in Denver."

"I was your best friend, Teddy…do you know how much it hurt when you took off and didn't bother calling me? I know we've already had _that_ conversation, and I can see why you didn't want to tell me some things, but did you really think I would hate you if you'd just told me?" Ivy moved her hands to her chest, clearly trying not to scream. "I was your best friend! I held you when you were crying over getting pregnant, I held you when Spencer tore you apart, I cradled you when you came back from your grandmother's smackdown…That's what best friends do, Teddy. They support each other, they go through hell with the other! We were sisters. _Sisters_. You know you can tell me anything."

Guilt slapped her in the face and punched her in the gut, taking her breath away. Once Ivy stopped and put her hands to her waist, Teddy could see tears coming from the woman's eyes. "I know, I think…I think I forgot about that, to be honest. I was just so scared of being judged."

"All these years, and as long as I've known you, _when_ have I ever judged you?"

"Never. You never have, and I lost that when those kids started judging me. I shouldn't have lost sight of that, and I'm sorry. I know I should have come to see you a lot sooner. I want you to know that Rocky and Cece never replaced you, nobody could ever replace you…you were the best, and you've always been." Ivy chuckled and twirled her finger in her hair, something she always did when she was flattered. "I've missed you, Ivy. I really have."

Seeing her sent an overwhelming rush of memories through her brain, it made her tear up more than she had thus far. She was doing her best to stay on her feet, to be strong. Ivy smiled at her and shook her head. "Come here girl." She spread her arms and hugged Teddy close. Teddy gasped as her friend crushed her in that same massive bear hug that she always gave her when they were younger. "Good to see you again, Teddy. I really am happy…"

"Me too…Ivy…so am I…"

"Why don't you guys come inside, Emmett and I can use a break from the yard work. We'll make you some tea."

"I'd really like that."

Back at the house, Gabe bounced on his feet, smirking with pride as he wiped his forehead with a rag. Cece and Rick stood behind him, gazing at the front of the house. It was all packed up, people had begun to remove the items that were no longer needed, and the maids had finally cleaned everything up. "I hate to say it, but I'm almost going to miss this place."

"I guess it's one way of saying goodbye to the past," Cece replied. He truly hadn't given it all that much thought. He didn't have as much to worry about as Teddy and PJ did, even though it _was_ still hard for him. "The house, it's just a symbol."

"I know…and I understand what it means." He knew truthfully there were two more places to visit after this was all said and done. Or really just one, he and his siblings had paid respects to their father at the cemetery. Though, not much was said or done. "You guys stay here for a bit, would you?" They nodded as he started walking into the backyard.

There was a tree house up in the tree, they'd rebuilt it after breaking it down once before. He wasn't sure if he could fit in it, but he didn't care, he climbed up and sat down inside. The familiar scent of oats and maple brought him to tears. This used to be his go-to place. He gazed out the window at the yard and the house. The other window showed Mrs. Dabney's old house. It was wearing down, old and still empty. "Right, she died a few years ago…"

He lay on his back and put his hands behind his head. His eyes gazed up at a small hole in the roof. A tear slipped from his eye as his heart slowly pounded in his chest. "Dad, Mrs. Dabney, it's been a while…" When Teddy and PJ left, he stopped giving the neighbor such a hard time. Truly, he stopped visiting her at all. "I'm sorry I stopped coming to see you, Mrs. Dabney…I know as much as we contended, you were at least _alive_. I never thought you'd become so depressed…like I did…" He felt a tad guilty in regards to her death, though she passed with a heart attack in her sleep.

She stopped taking care of herself, stopped taking care of her home and her yard. Weeds grew, grass grew thick, her cat ran off, and her house began falling apart. The same was said for his father, and soon his mother. "The people I cared most about, depression got a hold of…I guess I never thought I meant anything to you. Mrs. Dabney, for that, I'm truly sorry."

He pressed his thumb and forefinger into his eyes, rubbing them and groaning a bit. Memories of his father and the woman flooded him, but there was a general warmth that he felt towards them. Were they there with him? Were they looking after him? With a heavy sigh, he lowered his arm and gazed up smiling sadly. "Dad, I never knew…what you and mom had gone through. I know I should have been there for her when you passed, and I'm sorry that I wasn't. I will be now, though I'm in another place. Teddy, PJ, and I are all back together again…and Teddy's taking mom in. I think we can all be happy again, it'll take some time, but I know we'll be whole soon. It's going to take some effort on all of our parts, but we can do it. I miss you pops…I know now, you were more than just a 'fat drunken bastard'." He smirked playfully at the old name he used to call his dad. He didn't feel so miserable anymore, to be honest. In fact, he was _happy_. "I hope you'll keep watching over us. Take care of mom from up there, and let her and Teddy get along. We're going to the nursing home today…maybe you and God up there…can help everyone be and remain at peace."

He smiled as the warm feeling inside of him grew inside. He was certain they were smiling down on him from above. His father would be proud of him, he was certain.

When he left the tree house and moved back to the front, he was startled to see Rick and Cece throwing handcuffs on a man. Doug Dooley was beside them, smirking confidently. "What's going on?" Gabe stared at the man, he had a scar on his thick jaw, and a shaved head. The man had a muscular tone and narrow eyes. Who the hell was this guy?

"It's Bob Diddlebock," Doug remarked. Gabe's eyebrows shot up and he quickly looked to the man, resisting the urge to pound the shit out of him. "He came by to check on your mother, ran into my wife. Your friends here pinned him down and my wife pulled me out of the house…" Why were they arresting him? He'd done nothing. "Police were looking for him. Last week he was caught on camera robbing a gas station. He's under arrest for armed robbery…and what more, the gun he used, he also stole…"

He was stunned, had his mother been that close to death? Diddlebock with a gun, Gabe could only assume the worst! He clenched his fists tight and narrowed his eyes onto the struggling, angry man. "Good, keep him off the fucking streets. He can't do shit to anyone else after this…"

"I don't understand," Diddlebock growled, "Where's Amy? Why is the house emptied out?"

Scoffing, Gabe stepped in front of the man. He puffed his chest out and glared into his eyes. It was a shame this was out of his jurisdiction, he'd love to arrest the man himself. "Sorry, it is with great pleasure that I inform you, Amy Duncan moved away." Watching the man's face turn to shock and horror was euphoric! He crossed his arms over and beamed with pride as Doug walked the man to the nearby patrol car.

PJ led his siblings through the large nursing home. Rick, Cece, Emmett and Ivy followed. Cece and Ivy were getting along well, much to Teddy's astonishment and pleasure. Over the time here he'd been experiencing a roller coaster of emotions just as the others had.

The reasons he left, the reasons he threw it all behind him vowing never to look back or return, he had to strip himself of all of them. It was no easy task, but now that he'd done it, he felt like a new man. He was ready to take on the world, to be his own person and mend the cracks in the family.

However the one person that he always resented, perhaps more so than even Teddy, was Petunia. She was the one that forced him over the edge, forced him to make that move to New York. So this was truly the hardest thing to do, screw returning to Denver or seeing his family again, that was all nothing compared to having to see Petunia. It took everything in him back then not to strike the woman down, and likely it would take that here as well.

When they reached the woman's room, her appearance deflated him like a pin in a balloon. Her once full red hair was now thin, wispy, and balding. She was extremely frail, with several blankets wrapped around her body. Her face looked like it was melting off her, and her neck was so thin that someone could just snap her head off like it was a twig. He felt no sorrow for the shape she was in, only pity. This was what happened to her, she put herself in this situation when she alienated her family.

The woman looked up to them and PJ was the first to speak, though he found it hard to do so. What would this woman know of them, would she recognize them? Would she remember them? She opened her mouth to speak, but only air came out. "Grandma Petunia…do you recognize us?" The woman slowly looked amongst them with her sad eyes, curling her lips up just a bit.

"Grandchildren…" Teddy had a laptop hooked up with a webcam on for Charlotte, Toby and Amy. Amy could hardly bear to be in the room, but Charlotte and Toby wanted to see her. "My family. Where are my daughters?"

"Gone." Petunia looked up to PJ, stuttering just once. He knew how long it'd been since she'd seen them, and by her appearance, he was well aware she wasn't dealing with it very well. "You know what it's like, being alone?" The woman bowed her head and narrowed her eyes. "You judged us all, you tore everyone apart." He moved his finger towards the computer and kept his voice as calm as possible, though sorrow and anger were raising up. "You blamed your own daughter for what a scumbag tried to do to her, instead of being a mother and caring for her! I want you to look at that computer…and you'll see her…"

Petunia turned her gaze to the computer and breathed in heavily. Charlotte and Toby turned sideways to Amy, who was sitting on the couch with the dog. Amy looked away from the computer and Petunia sighed. "She can hardly look at me."

"Do you know why?" Teddy asked.

"I do. I've spent years thinking about it. It amazes me you would come here to begin with…"

"It was hard to do that," Gabe muttered. "None of us were in contact until this year at least, but no one deserves to be alone." PJ begged to differ, but even he _was_ beginning to feel sorry for the woman. "You shouldn't even get to see Charlotte, but she's right there." The elder's jaw quivered and her bony fingers clenched her blanket, pulling it tighter around her.

"C-Cold." She began muttering and sobbing. "So cold." How bad had it gotten for this woman? Even the hundred year olds in the nursing home were in better shape. Her body was shutting down on her, the guilt must have been eating away at her over all these years.

PJ exhaled and sat on the bed beside the chair she was in. He bowed his head and swallowed his pride. His grandmother looked up as he placed his hand on her wrist. He could feel her trembling. Her skin felt like that of very thin skin on a chicken when it was grilled. He was afraid of her skin coming off with his fingers. The shape she was in, she was dying. He only recognized the sign from some of the patients Skyler would talk about.

"I don't know what we're doing here, to be honest." His face hardened as he looked up to his siblings. "I think this is just the final step of letting go…and we do. We're starting a new chapter of our lives." Petunia groaned and moved her other hand over to his, curling her tender fingers around his hand. He closed his eyes and turned his head away.

"I'm…so…sorry….Amy lives with you?"

"She's living with Teddy now. They've reconciled."

"Tell Amy, and Diane…I am sorry…if it isn't too late." Amy moved up to the camera and called out to her mother. Petunia slowly looked over to her and frowned. "My sight…is not so good anymore…"

"Mom, it's time for everyone to move on. I can't tell you how _hurt_ you made me. I stayed and cared for you when Diane totally gave up on you, but you still treated me like shit. Do you know that? Because of you, I almost lost my own children. Now that…we're back, I'm letting you go. I can't think about you the way I've been, I can't let you control my thoughts anymore…"

"That's all of us," PJ said. The others nodded and Petunia turned her pale eyes towards him. "We know you're slipping away, but we don't want you to slip away thinking your family hates you. Yes, we were angry with you, still are to some degree, but as of right now…as of this point…we _forgive_ you."

"Forgiveness…"

"Yes Grandma, forgiveness. You scarred us, tore us open, split us up, but we forgive you for it. We don't hate you, we don't want anything bad for you, but since we're letting go of everything that's in our past…we're also letting go of the trauma you inflicted." It was truly painful for him to say all this, but it was coming from his heart, and he felt a great deal of warmth from it. For the first time, he was releasing everything, and filling with _peace_.

"I'm glad. I'm not alone?"

"No Grandma…you're not…" The others murmured their agreements, and for the first time, they saw Petunia with a smile on her face. Her eyes lit up and she moved her hand to her chest.

"Can I have peace too?"

"You don't have to live with your guilt. It's over now. There's nothing more to worry about…we're all fine, and you're fine…So yes, you can be at peace."

"He's right," Teddy moved over to Petunia and leaned over to give the woman a gentle hug. Gabe put his hand to her other wrist. He smiled warmly and nodded his head. Teddy stood straight and wiped her eyes. "It's hard, but we do forgive you for everything…"

PJ watched with a tear in his eyes as the woman started to sink in her chair. He meshed his brow and studied her serene expression. "I'm glad," she uttered, "I don't deserve it, but I'm glad…Thank you…" Her gaze turned up at the ceiling and PJ felt her arm go limp.

Teddy put her hand to Petunia's shoulder, calling out to her, then told Ivy to get one of the nurses. Ivy ran out while the three siblings stared in shock at their grandmother. PJ winced, his heart sank, and he slowly rose to his feet. He didn't need confirmation to understand what just happened. Silence filled the room, Amy and the teens stared in shock at the sight.

She finally let go. Petunia Blankenhooper, ninety years old, was finally at peace.

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Well what did you like about this chapter? Anything strike a chord in you?


	35. Best Duncan Christmas

Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 35 (Best Duncan Christmas)

The following year was a frenzied rush to the airport, just days away from Christmas, and Teddy was hoping to beat Gabe this year. Last year they spent Christmas at PJ's, and they were repeating that this year. The family wounds were gone, and everyone was healing pretty well. There was still a tiny bit of sensitivity where memories were concerned, but all in all, no one could really complain. "Come on we're going to be late!" Teddy called out, motioning the others through the airport.

Rick was there with them, he and Teddy were engaged to be married. She never felt happier to have a man there in her life. Amy was doing a lot better this year, having healed from much of her emotional wounds, she'd regained her strength and was always happy to be spending time with her grandchildren. Toby was _still_ in a long distance relationship with Regina, the two were able to visit each other from time to time, so there was no harm there. Charlotte was still her usual troublemaking self, but strangely enough, she'd pulled _Toby_ into some of her mischief!

Even now, she was wanting to do something with Kimi and Violet, but Teddy had to put her foot down on those plans. While running to the Airport, Amy was certain she'd forgot something and was constantly going on and on about how she wanted to go back to the house and check on what it was she forgot.

This year, as last year, Gabe's family and Teddy's family would be staying in hotels. It was fine, and Teddy was looking forward to seeing the two new additions to the family again. PJ's daughter Quinn had been born on December 5th, last year, and Gabe's son Jacob was born on November 2nd last year. Both children were a sign of a new time in the family's life. PJ and Skyler received their Doctorate degrees in their respective careers, and were now officially a Music Professor, and Doctor. Teddy was doing extremely well in college, and was still considering a career in journalism.

"Teddy I'm serious, I swear I left my wallet on the coffee table!" Amy called out. Teddy looked back as the family ran for the terminal.

"It'll be _fine_, Mom, we don't want to miss the flight. Besides, you don't want to leave the dog wondering where we're at, do you?" Amato was being flown in as well to join his family on this trip. Charlotte shook her head, laughing at the exchange. "We have _got_ to get going."

"Hey if Grandma misses the flight, can I miss it too so I can go see the ice show with Violet and Kimi?" Teddy rolled her eyes and shook a finger at Charlotte. "What? Grandma and I could get a plane back."

"No you may not, and besides, there are no more flights until after Christmas!" They all made it out to the plane and started taking their seats. The plane had three seats on either side of the aisle, all in a row. Rick, Toby, and Teddy were in one section together. Behind them was Charlotte and Amy. Rick looked at Teddy with a subtle smile and put his hand to hers.

"Relax, just a few more hours and we're all in New York."

"I know. Sorry I've been so stressed lately, there's a lot going on." She leaned back and closed her eyes, sighing heavily. The stewardess stepped out into the aisle and asked if anyone would like a free ticket, as the plane was overbooked. Teddy's eyes flew open and she heard her mother call out. "Oh _god_ no…" Rick raised his eyebrow as Amy began rushing down the aisle. Charlotte got up and called out.

"Grandma! Don't worry Mom, I'll go after her!" Toby smacked his forehead as Charlotte ran off. Teddy rolled her eyes and groaned, of _course_ Charlotte would take advantage of this.

"Get back here you two!" Teddy hurried from her seat and chased after them. Rick and Toby looked at each other and sighed as the stewardess closed the door.

"What are we going to tell PJ and Gabe?" Rick asked. Toby lifted his shoulders and shook his head.

Outside the terminal, once Teddy caught up with Amy and Charlotte, she was very angry with both of them. Amy pulled her wallet from her back pocket and paled. "Uh…whoops…" Teddy's eyes widened and she pushed both back to the ticket taker. She was _not_ happy with either of them for jumping off the plane.

"Ma'am I need to get back on that plane."

"I'm sorry, we're no longer seating," The woman said. Teddy chuckled and put her fingers to her forehead.

"No, no you don't understand, we were already _on_ the plane. We need to get back on, accidently got off."

"I'm sorry ma'am, unless you have your tickets, you're not getting on…" Her eye twitched as Amy and Charlotte exchanged nervous glances. Rick had all of their tickets. She was in _no mood_ for all of this.

"Look lady. I'm telling you that we need to get on that plane. Our tickets are on that plane. My fiancé and little brother are on that plane, _we_ need to get _on that plane_." The lady leaned close, glaring into her eyes.

"Either you show me your tickets, or I'm calling security."

"You want me to show you something? Well _guess what!"_ Before Amy and Charlotte could stop her, all the rage boiling inside of her, she brought her hands up and flipped both middle fingers up at the woman.

PJ sat on the couch with Gabe, laughing at a joke. Jo and Skyler were making some finishing touches to the Christmas turkey, and the children were all playing out in the back. Both infants, Quinn and Jacob, were asleep in their cradles. "Man it feels like it was just yesterday that we were all sitting around here with each other, getting to know each other again," Gabe said with a smile. "I'm glad we're all back together."

"Yeah, makes life a lot less lonely." He looked to the window that revealed the backyard. His children were constantly impressing him. Tyler had skipped grades once again this year, and would definitely be hitting college next year! Lucy was almost always dependent on him, but spent quite a bit of time playing with the baby as well. Zachary was still a troublemaker, much like his Uncle Gabe, and would blame a lot on the baby. He started kindergarten this year, so now PJ expected a long line of terror-stricken teachers to begin. "Everyone's a lot happier now…How's Jo and Jenny doing these days?"

"They're great, and Jacob's definitely a quiet baby. Jenny won't stop spoiling her baby brother." PJ laughed and brought his coffee mug up to his lips. He wasn't all that surprised, Jenny seemed truly happy to have a younger sibling. "You know, it's nice not having to prepare for this holiday."

"Well we went to your place for Thanksgiving, so it's only fair." He smirked and nudged Gabe in the side. "Next year though, we need to visit Teddy's place." Gabe snickered and pat PJ's arm.

"I can only imagine Teddy trying to set up her apartment for Christmas." Was it even possible? Although, there was the question of where Teddy would be living. She and Rick were getting married in January, so likely she would be moving in with him. Gabe looked to the front door and window and smiled. "Speaking of which, they just pulled up."

"Really?" He got up from the couch and moved to the door. When he opened it and looked out, he only saw Rick and Toby. The two left the car and waved anxiously at them. PJ leaned against the doorframe and raised an eyebrow. "Rick? Toby? Where are the girls?"

"First Mom ran off," Toby answered. "Then Charlotte went after her, and finally Teddy had to catch them. They never got back on the plane…we're hoping they'll get here soon." Rick nodded and lifted his phone.

"Last I heard, they're on a bus to New York. If all goes well, they'll be here in twenty hours."

"Are you _kidding_ me!" Teddy screamed at the departing bus. Charlotte and Amy were standing behind her, freezing. They were stuck somewhere in Geneva, Ohio. The passengers on the bus were disgusted by Teddy's constant use of the bathroom, and elected for the bus driver to kick her off. "Come _back_!"

"Great, we're stuck out in the middle of nowhere," Charlotte complained. Teddy growled, annoyed with her daughter. They wouldn't even be in this mess if her mother and daughter hadn't decided to jump the plane. She started walking, looking back to make sure they were walking with her.

"Next year, I'm strapping you two to the plane seats. Just watch me." The two chuckled nervously while she threw her hands up into the air. "How in the hell are we going to get there? I don't want to miss Christmas!"

"We'll get there mom, don't worry…"

"Well the next person that refuses to help us, I swear I'm putting an elbow in their face!"

"I don't think that's necessary, Momma." She started muttering as her stomach began shifting aggressively. She was _not_ enjoying the bitter cold nor the walking, and hoped to come upon someone that would help soon enough. She was in no mood for any further trouble. "Grandma, I think Momma pissed."

"What clued you in, sweetie?" Amy asked.

"The fact that mom's flexing her hands and cracking her neck."

"Yeah, she's mad."

They finally arrived two days later, with Teddy frantic that she might miss Christmas. It was a hellish trip to New York, but they did it, and even had a bit of a Broadway act to boot. Hitchhiking and trying to earn money for travel was no easy task. When they arrived, Teddy fell into Rick's arms, exhausted with the travel.

PJ and Gabe rubbed her back, laughing as Charlotte and Amy told the tale of the trip. She couldn't help but to wonder what would have happened all those years ago if she tried to take that trip with Ivy. No matter, this was turning out to be a good Christmas regardless of the minor detour.

Christmas Day was packed full of colorful presents beneath the very large tree. The adults watched from the couch as Charlotte and Toby handed the presents out among the kids. Teddy sat beside Rick on the couch, with Rick's arm around her shoulder and her head on his. Her heart was aflutter watching the scene and cuddling up beside him.

PJ was busy recording the Christmas with his video camera while Skyler snapped pictures of everyone and their gifts. Gabe and Jo sat on the loveseat beside the couch, watching as their daughter held up her new dollhouse, laughing happily. Even Amy was enjoying the scene, with Amato at her feet _as usual._ This was a Christmas that they would look on for years to come, Teddy could feel it in her heart. Truly, all of the strains from before were gone.

Why had she ever forsaken this family? She couldn't remember. Maybe they could have healed years ago, if only they'd been willing to put their pride away and talk with one another. It should never have taken that long to communicate once more, and it should not have taken Charlotte rushing off to Denver for them to realize how messed up they were.

Truly, before they reunited, they had not been free. Their souls were still bleeding, crying out for union that seemed would never occur. Maybe they would still be torturing themselves, giving themselves a slow and lonely death as they continued to drift farther apart. Now, they were _finally_ happy again, they were whole, and never again would they part from one another.

When the presents were gone, Teddy took Rick's hand and slowly stood up, smiling at her beautiful family. "There's one more thing," she announced with a joy escaping her voice. Everyone grew silent and Charlotte held back a squeal. "There's going to be another baby in the family, I'm pregnant!" Charlotte released the squeal, the children all cheered and laughed happily and Amy clapped.

"It's _Rick's_, right?" Amy asked, jokingly pointing a finger at her. Teddy laughed and nodded her head, grinning from ear to ear.

"Yes mama." Skyler cheered and threw her hands into the air, rushing over to hug Teddy.

"I'm not alone this year!" Skyler chimed. Teddy laughed as Skyler glared at PJ, who nervously rubbed the back of his head. Yes, she was pregnant yet again, but already five months, and with _twins. _Of course Amy was thrilled, all the more grandchildren for her. PJ was not thrilled, as he had to get a vasectomy afterwards.

Teddy smiled and closed her eyes. "You're not alone, Skyler." Aside from the slightly tense Christmas last year, this right here was _the_ best Christmas ever. Teddy was certain, without a doubt, there would be many more like it to come.

Amy couldn't help but to giggle as she blurted out her joy. "_Ten_, count them, _ten _Grandchildren! God yes! Merry Christmas!" Perhaps more, Gabe was still young, and Toby wasn't even grown yet. Everyone else laughed, and the kids ran to hug their grandmother. Teddy wiped a tear from her eyes and smiled at the sight.

"This is truly, the best Christmas ever."

* * *

So, what did you like about the chapter? It's sad to see it go, but this was indeed the final chapter. I'm glad for all of you guys, and I hope you'll read my next GLC story coming up "Hidden Beneath the Mask" which centers around Skyler and PJ, with Skyler dealing with a bit of an identity crisis. That should be coming up soon, so I'll let you know. Anyway what did you like about this final chapter? It's the final chapter, so feel free to say whatever you like ^_^

Edit: Here's that story- fanfiction dot net slash s/8478533/1/


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